Undine's Thread
by Warlordess
Summary: After Ash receives news that the Sensational Sisters have lost the rights to the Cerulean Gym, he must go on a search for his best friend, Misty, who has mysteriously vanished overnight. AaML.
1. one

**Disclaimer **- Everything you're about to read belongs to someone else. You know, except for the total compilation of ideas. That would be mine. Yup yup.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay guys, this is a weird one. I think it definitely qualifies for the _fantasy_ genre I picked for it. Plus it's almost sickeningly romantic. Ugh, I hope I come out of this one unscathed. Even if you don't understand something or don't like or appreciate it, I hope you'll stick it out til the end and also - maybe, just _maybe_ - give me a review and tell me what you thought.

So, without further ado. . .

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Title **- "Undine's Thread" / part one

**O**o**O**

**Characters **/ **Ages **-

Ash / 16

Brock / 18

Misty / 16

Marina / 17

**O**o**O**o**O**

The news came unexpectedly, like a storm.

". . . I'm standing outside the Cerulean Gym, currently undergoing renovations as this seaside city prepares to accept their new gym trainer, the talented Marina from the Orange Islands."

Ash paused, the potato chip that had been sitting between his lips falling, his finger frozen on the _channel up_ button on the remote he'd been using to browse the networks. Pikachu, formerly lazing about beside him on the couch, immediately pricked up his ears at the sound of even one familiar word.

_Cerulean Gym?_

"W - what. . . ?" he mumbled, unable to accept what he'd just heard. The newscast continued, pictures of the Cerulean Gym flashing like a slide show on his television.

"Marina, an Orange League Champion, has undergone rigorous training in order to accept this role, despite repeated attempts to refuse the position earlier this year. The previous gym trainers, one of which she stated was a friend of hers, disinherited the power of the gym due to ultimately low scores on their past five annual League inspections, as well as negative comments from trainers around the region. Although Daisy, Lily, and Violet retained their acclaim as local legends - the Sensational Sisters - and in spite of them handing down the gym to Misty, their younger sister and a very talented water-type trainer, it simply wasn't enough for them to increase their reputation as gym leaders and to retain control of the property and their titles.

"Alongside Candidate Marina's awkward acceptance as the new Cerulean Gym trainer, PIA member Joy of the Kanto's local branch expresses disappointment in the League's decision to strip the former trainers of their rights. And she _isn't_ the only one. Many fans of the Sensational Sisters, as well as Misty's training regimen, have gathered more than once before the gym in order to host a protest, though none of them have lasted long, nor have they forced a change in the League's plan to refurbish the gym and allow for new leadership.

"Pokemon officials, trainers, fans, and citizens will have no other choice but to wait and see how everything will turn out. Back to you at headquarters, Ethan."

"Thanks, Kris, and now. . ."

Ash tuned out the rest of the broadcast long enough to shake his head silently, eyes and mouth still wide open.

"B - but what about. . . Misty?" he asked himself. He was relatively concerned that the news anchor was informed enough to discuss his friend being forced from her home yet so uninformed that she'd neglect to mention what had become of the girl.

"Pikapi? Pikachu pi pika Pikachupi." Pikachu interrupted his train of thought, placing a small paw on his arm and attempting to shake him into focus.

". . . Ah, y - yeah. . . I'm gonna go try and call her. I remember Marina, hopefully she'll remember me too. Maybe she can give me some details on what happened at the gym. I can't believe it. . ." he muttered to himself, slowly easing his weight off of the couch and walking sluggishly towards the video-phone. "I really can't believe it. . ."

Luckily he'd long since stored the Cerulean Gym's phone in his memory so punching in the number only took half a second. Still, it felt like time dragged on forever as his heart picked up its pace. He gulped, his throat filled suddenly with cotton. Pikachu leapt up into his lap as he sat before the phone, receiver in hand.

It rang twice before giving a disheartening beep.

_"The number you are trying to reach is either temporarily out of service or has been disconnected. Please try again later. Error code 00215."_

"Crap. . . Crap!" Ash yelled, slamming the receiver back on the hook, "This isn't happening! It can't be happening!"

As soon as he'd taken another moment to exhale, the phone began ringing instead.

_Could it be?_

He hurriedly picked it up again, nearly forcibly removing Pikachu from his thigh in his excitement. Surely this was Misty. Surely she would explain everything to him. And in good faith, Ash turned on the video monitor.

". . . Oh, Brock. . . It's you." He prayed that he didn't sound too disappointed.

"Ash, did you watch the news a few minutes ago? That story about Cerulean. . . !"

"Yeah, I saw it. I have no idea what's going on. Brock, did Misty try and contact you or your family? Did she say anything at all about this?"

"No, not a thing. Nobody's heard anything about this, even my parents, and they attend most of the League functions in place of my brother since he's too young to really participate. It looks like the League council was keeping it under the radar all this time. It's hard to believe there weren't any leaks about something this big. But what about your mom? Misty loves her like family; if she told anyone, I'm sure it'd be her."

Ash sighed, drooping in his seat a little more.

"Pi. . ." the electric mouse in his lap offered in condolence, looking equally somber.

"She isn't home right now, not for the next hour or two. But still, she isn't this absent-minded. If Misty were to break this kinda news to her, I'm sure she woulda told me as soon as I got home from Unova."

"Well we should try calling Misty. For all we know, she only just found out about this too. She'll need us to be there for her if she's been stripped of her gym leader license."

"I tried that already, right before you called. Her phone's been disconnected. I figure it's from the construction they're doing at the gym."

"Yeah, that or the fact that they've probably received a ton of harassing phone-calls from fans and trainers and news crews."

"I - we've gotta find her, Brock. I don't like this. I can't handle not knowing where she is. We hafta find her."

"I know that, I know! Ash, just keep trying to reach the gym. I'm going to contact one of my League sources. I'll use my staple as a former gym leader and relative of a current lead trainer to try and get some information. There's no way they can keep us from finding her and her sisters."

The two young men hung up without saying goodbye to one another, Ash hurriedly pressing redial on the touch-screen keypad so that he could immediately reconnect to the Cerulean Gym's main line. Alas, even after five attempts, he couldn't get more than the (at this point) far too familiar beeping of an unregistered phone number.

Finally deciding to try something else, he dialed Information and waited for someone to pick up there.

"Thank you for calling, this is Vincent speaking. May I have the city and region of whom you'd like to contact please?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm trying to reach the gym in Cerulean City, Kanto region."

". . . I'm sorry, sir. That number has been temporarily removed from our database due to backlog. I can direct you to Indigo League HQ, who placed the block on this number, if you'd like."

Ash sighed, clearly despondent at his lack of progress, before thanking the man and hanging up instead. Clearly, if the people in charge of the Indigo League had kept everything about the Cerulean Gym quiet until now, they'd be hard-pressed to deliver him the information he wanted no matter _what _his relationship with Misty was.

_And just what relationship is there when you haven't seen your best friend in over two years, and haven't bothered to contact her in nearly one? She didn't even try to tell me that she was getting kicked out of the gym!_

"Pi pikachu Pikapi!" Pikachu admonished his trainer, as if to remind Ash not to think that way. As if he knew the way the boy was thinking to begin with.

"Nah, Pikachu, don't worry. . ." Ash responded, patting his buddy on the head, "Brock said that Misty might not have known this was coming either, just like the rest of us. . . She would have told us if she'd had the chance. Brock'll find out what's going on. He'll figure out where Misty is and we'll go make sure she's okay."

"Pi pika pi chu Pikachupi?"

"Of course I mean that," Ash practically laughed, a sight if ever there was one, "I mean, she and I, we're best friends! So what if she can't be a gym leader anymore? That doesn't mean she can't be my friend! I'm just. . . worried. . ." And his tone grew soft and melancholy again as he turned to stare at his television for the first time since the newscast had ended.

"I'm worried 'cause I don't think she knows that."

Ash sat there with Pikachu for a few minutes longer, waiting for Brock to return their interrupted call and wondering offhandedly when his mom would come home. He knew that she'd be upset if he didn't at least explain to her what was going on because one thing was for sure. . . Something weird was going on.

About fifteen minutes of waiting later and the phone rang again.

"Brock, tell me you found something out."

"Sorry, Ash, I tried every trick in the book. Lance's secretary wouldn't even yield to my manly valor!"

"Dammit Brock, you tried flirting with her again, didn't you? I thought it was obvious that she didn't want you the last time you tried that. . ."

Brock whimpered as though not having heard the poor boy, but managed to get over it a few seconds later. And thank goodness, too, for it seemed not all was lost.

"So I couldn't find out anything about Misty or her beautiful, gorgeous sisters-"

"-Okay, yeah, get on with it-"

"-But according to my sources," and he put on a serious, mysterious face, "Marina is still being housed at the Cerulean Gym even though they're doing the renovations and phones are down. All we have to do is ask her about it, right? I mean, you said you knew her, didn't you? That you met in the Orange Islands?"

Ash wasn't so sure all of a sudden, but for the sake of finding out what had happened to Misty (and his personal curiosity), he would at least give it a shot.

"Alright, Brock, I'll be in Pewter by tomorrow afternoon."

Delia Ketchum was not exactly pleased when she returned home from the super market to find her one and only son already packing to leave her alone again. He hadn't even been back from Unova for a full week and yet he didn't offer an explanation until she shut and locked the front door and forced him to sit down long enough to tell her what was going on.

Of course, then he did and she grew overly sympathetic. She hadn't heard much from Misty since the two of them and Professor Oak had gotten together to send her darling son that gift package awhile back. Misty had been much too secretive about what she was giving her best friend, and Delia had known better than to pry. A girl's feelings were her own of course, and she had no business butting in. Plus, the thought that her Ashy might actually, maybe, possibly acquire his first girlfriend because of such a special surprise was more than enough for her to bite her tongue and remain calm and to wait to see if anything panned out.

Nothing did, unfortunately, and now she was left with the cold, hard fear that accompanied knowing absolutely nothing about what was going on. Misty was her son's best friend, practically a surrogate daughter, and yet they hadn't spoken in months. And now she had vanished without a trace and nothing to tie her down or bring her back. After all, just who _were _the Cerulean Sensational Sisters without their Pokemon gym to identify them?

"Fine, Ash, alright. You can go, but I want an update everyday. Please, please," she begged him, though still somehow completely composed as she braced herself, "don't put yourself at risk. . . but do whatever you can beyond that to find Misty, okay? I don't think either of us would easily forgive ourselves if we let her go without even trying."

And so Ash left home, running down the path and out of Pallet Town in record time, Pikachu zipping along at his heels. Through Viridian City without even ten seconds to stop at the local PokeCenter, no time to shop for healing items, dashing through Viridian Forest so fast that even the Beedrill feared trying to trace them.

Somehow, miraculously, Ash made it to Pewter by four in the morning, at least six hours ahead of schedule.

He raced up the path and around the bend leading to the Pokemon Gym, only stopping to knock on the front door for fear of how impolite it would be if he barged in so early in the day. Nevertheless, after only a few spare knocks, the doors slid open and he walked inside, noticing Brock behind the front desk where he must have been unlocking the front entrance.

"Wow, you made good time. I'm not ready to go just yet. I'll need about an hour," he said by way of conversation.

Ash sighed, not out of exasperation, but due to the exhaustion finally catching up on him. Still, he refused to let it show anymore. He didn't have time to be tired. Pikachu had nearly fallen off his shoulder three times on the way out of Viridian Forest, having felt the ramifications of constant running for half a day straight awhile ago. But the two of them had somehow made it.

"No, that's fine. To be honest, I didn't expect you to be up at all. It's kind of early."

"Six-thirty in the morning. You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?" Rather than waiting for an answer (considering he already knew what it'd be), Brock changed the topic. "I probably wouldn't have been except the phone started ringing nearly an hour ago and, well, I've been kind of restless too, so I was only half asleep."

"Who calls at five-thirty in the morning?" Ash asked with a furrowed eyebrow, as if he had room to talk.

"It was May. It turns out she's back home for now and they happened to air a delayed broadcast about the Cerulean Gym and Misty's family. She and Max were worried and wanted to know if there was anything they could do. She said she'd tried calling you first but your mom told her you'd already left to come see me. I'm surprised there was any news of this over in Hoenn. It doesn't really mean anything to their region, does it?

"Well, anyway, right after that, your mom called. She must have thought the same as you and knew you'd rather skip out on a few hours of shut eye. She also said that Tracey called her last night, apparently confused about something. He thought we should know about it after watching the newscast too."

"What is it?" Ash asked, curious as he took a seat in the lobby. Brock followed suit with a groan, apparently weary and shaken after everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

"Cerulean City's Nurse Joy sent him a Pokeball."

"So. . . ?"

"Azuril was inside."

"Azuril. . . You mean Marril's baby, who was given to Misty a couple years ago? Why would she send it back to Pallet Town? What, does she think that she can't be a proper mother just because she's not a registered gym trainer anymore?" the raven-haired boy asked with a sharp laugh. Brick didn't join in, taking the further development much more seriously than him. In fact, it was enough so that the younger man sobered up immediately, feeling rather ashamed.

"Pikapi. . ." Pikachu admonished him from his shoulder.

"I don't know why she sent Azuril back to Tracey. Perhaps she really thought she couldn't care for it any longer, although probably for more reasons than simply lacking a gym license. For all we know, the whole thing is temporary. Maybe she wanted Azuril to be with its real mother while she and her sisters found a new place to live. Who knows?"

"There was no note, huh?" And Ash seemed rather diminished as he begged the question.

". . . No. No note."

The two of them sat there in the lobby of the Pewter Gym for the next few minutes, drinking in all of the facts and the overall situation. Neither one seemed able to think up a solution to the mystery that had presented itself before them. Finally, the silence cracked and shattered.

"You said about an hour, right?"

"Yeah, let me go finish packing and then I'll wake my family and tell them goodbye. Did you need to do anything? Use the restroom, get some breakfast?"

"Not really. Uh, I think I should use the phone though; call my mom, tell her I made it here alright. She told me to keep her updated."

Brock nodded, pointing towards the front desk, "You can use the video-phone there. After that, go to the PokeCenter. I'll meet you there."

"Brock," Ash laughed again, "it's not all that necessary. Pikachu and I are more than enough to take on any _threats _we see in Viridian Forest. We got here just fine without using a single potion. There's no reason to see Nurse Joy for a check-up."

"Pika!" the electric mouse assured the Pewter gym trainer.

"Don't give me that," the breeder practically snapped at his younger friend anyway, "You two ran all night to get here, you didn't stop once to rest or eat. You _both _look exhausted. I'm disappointed in you, Ash. I know you're worried, Pikachu too, but that doesn't mean you can ignore your Pokemon's health. Go see Nurse Joy. I'll be there in a little while.

"And try not to panic too much." Brock reminded him with a smile so confident, the raven-haired trainer couldn't help being jealous of it, "we've been through worse than this. Misty too. We'll find her."

Silence consumed the two of them again, Ash refusing to say anything in response to Brock's comment, least of all to admit that he was right. It wasn't like he'd meant to hurt Pikachu, of course not. And his Pokemon knew to speak up if it felt it was being mistreated. . . But all of them were so worried and upset about what had happened to Misty, curious as to her whereabouts and as to why she'd kept the truth from them all this time. Of course Pikachu wouldn't say anything. It didn't want to hinder their investigation, didn't want to hold them up.

". . . See you in an hour," Ash muttered, getting up with fists clenched uncomfortably tight. He carefully released the tension in his muscles with a deep breath of air before walking out of the gym and towards their next meeting place.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes - **Hallo, all! It took me far too long (like, _months_) to finish the first chapter of this but, hey, at least it's finally done. If you've read the notes both on my FFN profile and at the start of the chapter, I'd say it's pretty obvious where I'm going with this. But I hope you're still interested and will stick around anyway because it's been a pretty fun ride! Whew, I think I may be playing around too much with certain stereotypes. . . Well, we shall see!

Also, as a minor note, this was originally going to be a two-shot mini-fic. . . but I took a step back and realized I wanted to do something with shorter chapters this time so I'm going to split it up into about four parts. Since the first chapter was originally twice the size it is now, I _do _have the second chapter written and ready to post, and I've started on the third one as well. As for how soon I plan on actually doing that posting, well. . . We shall see. . .

Reviews are appreciated and inspirational!


	2. two

**Disclaimer **- Everything you're about to read belongs to someone else. You know, except for the total compilation of ideas. That would be mine. Yup yup.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay guys, this is a weird one. I think it definitely qualifies for the _fantasy_ genre I picked for it. Plus it's almost sickeningly romantic. Ugh, I hope I come out of this one unscathed. Even if you don't understand something or don't like or appreciate it, I hope you'll stick it out til the end and also - maybe, just _maybe_ - give me a review and tell me what you thought.

So, without further ado. . .

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Title **- "Undine's Thread" / part two

**O**o**O**o**O**

The walk to Cerulean City took them the rest of the day, mostly thanks to Mt. Moon's rocky paths. By the time the two young men and Pikachu made it to the edge of town, the sun was just starting to set beyond the waters surrounding Misty's hometown.

"Brock. . . If she's there, what do we do?"

"What do you mean?"

Their unanimous pace slowed down as they approached the silhouette of the Cerulean Gym, the massive Seel statue standing out in luminosity against the onsetting darkness.

"Misty. If she's still staying at the gym, what are we supposed to do? She didn't tell us about any of this. I'm sort of mad about that. . . but if she's got a reason, or even if she doesn't, how can I say anything to her after what just happened to her and her sisters?"

Ash thought back on the same fear that had momentarily gnawed at him before he'd left home. It'd been awhile, such a long time, since the two of them had talked. What right did he have to get angry at her or else tell her off when he hadn't updated her on anything in his life in a year?

"Ash, you can be mad all you like. This is big, what happened to Misty, and her not saying anything probably means that she didn't expect us to care. So get mad and prove to her that she's wrong. Besides. . ." And his next words made positive that he truly understood where Ash's thoughts laid, "communication is a two way street. You've been pretty caught up in running around and winning your badges. Misty could have tried to contact you just as much as you did her. She could have left messages with your mom if she didn't know where to look for you. Did she do either of those things?"

"Uh. . . no. . ."

"So then you're not completely at fault here. Just remember to word it delicately. Don't just shout and yell and throw a fit; she wouldn't respond well to that."

"No duh. . ." Ash replied with a roll of the eyes. He wouldn't soon forget how often Misty had attempted to kick his face in due to his insensitivity.

"We're almost the - whoa. . . !" Brock said, stretching his neck upwards at the huge crane set before him.

And that wasn't all. Other machines and materials sat around what should have been the pathway leading to the Cerulean Gym entrance, yellow tape cautioning visitors and detour signs posted here and there to direct their way. A few personnel walked briskly back and forth but they seemed to be tidying up and packing to leave for the day.

"Hey, you two!" a voice shouted from behind. Ash, Brock, and Pikachu all jumped half a foot in the air before turning to face an elderly man as he removed his yellow hat and wiped his brow of sweat, "Ya know this is a construction site! Ya got business here?"

"Ah, y - yeah, we were just. . ." Ash tapered off as Brock quickly thought of a valid response.

"We're old friends of Marina's. We just wanted to catch up with her real quick after hearing she'd be taking over the Cerulean Pokemon Gym, maybe wish her luck."

"Hah! Yeah, right, I've heard that one a hundred different times today. . . Well, that's fine. I'll just have to accompany ya to see her then. Wouldn't want ya to get lost on your way through this mess."

"O - okay. . ."

The two of them were shuffled through the maze of equipment and towards the front door, which they probably would have had trouble finding if not for the assistance they'd been offered. Of course, as they approached their destination, they kept chancing small glances between them and trying to think of a solution to their possible dilemna.

_Are you sure Marina will remember you?_ Brock asked mentally.

_How the heck should I know? It's been years since we last saw each other! And we only met the one time! _Ash exclaimed back with his brow furrowed and mouth set agape as if to yell.

_This does not bode well for us._

The front doors were closed and tinted black so they weren't able to see inside. Blocking their vision even further was a sign posted along both shades of glass with the Pokemon League HQ logo at the top.

_Cerulean Gym is temporarily closed for renovations. Apologies to any trainer inconvenienced. Please view the official Kanto League website at your local PokeCenter for other nearby gyms currently accepting challenges._

The foreman leaned forward between Ash and Brock and rang the bell beside the doors then stood back again for the following few moments it took for a shadow to sppear beyond the tinted glass before the doors slid open with a _woosh_.

"Pikachupi. . . ?" Pikachu asked hesitantly from Ash's shoulder before sniffing the air and shaking his head in negative.

"Look, if this is about your silly Sensational Sister fad, guys, then you can just shove it! I had nothing to do with. . ." Marina groaned as she stuck her head out for them to see, her bright blue hair still long and her violet eyes blinking up at them as confusion dawned on her face, "O - oh. . . hehe. . . Sorry! You're _definitely _not who I thought you were. . . But, uh, that does beg the question. . . Who are you guys anyway?"

"So ya don't know 'em, eh? Thought not. . ." the older man claimed, replacing his helmet and bracing his vision against the setting sun. "Well then, I'll just be assisting 'em off the property so ya can go ahead with yer evening. Sorry to bother ya, ma'am."

"Ah, wait!" And she was in such a hurry that she tripped and practically fell from the door, Brock catching her with all of his debonair though he refrained from making anymore of a move, most likely because he knew Ash would rip his ear clean off for wasting their time.

"Are you alright?" he asked her though with a flashy grin. Hey, there was nothing wrong with being polite, was there?

"Yeah. . . Yeah, I am, thanks," she sighed as she mashed her palm into his face, using it as leverage and easing herself back up onto her feet. "Well, I definitely don't know you," she continued with a nod at Brock, who twitched and seemed just a bit put out by it, "but _you_. . ." She turned and stared Ash down with her hand to her chin in thought. "You do look _sorta _familiar. . . but how could I possibly know who you are. . . ?"

"I traveled with Misty," Ash took the opportunity to say, and waited for the befuddlement to leave Marina's expression before she clapped one fist into her other hand. "We met back when I was training for the Orange League, when you two battled to see who was the better water-type specialist. . . You thought Psyduck's tail glowing meant it was going to evolve, remember?"

"Hahaha, oh yeah! Luckily I don't fall for silly rumors like that anymore! In fact, I can barely remember hearing about that! I'm sort of shocked _you _remember it, though. . . You've got a pretty good memory."

"Ah, well. . . it's not really like that. . ."

"Ash remembers almost anything to do with Misty. It's kind of funny since he can't even remember how many brothers and sisters I have." Brock commented inquisitively from behind the two of them with a cunning smirk.

"Seven, right?" the raven-haired trainer attempted.

"Not even."

". . . Well, hey, why don't we head inside to continue this conversation further?" Marina asked, her hands up and hoping things wouldn't get hostile from here. "Thanks for showing them the way here. It _is _kinda messy out there," she continued to the construction worker, "Have a nice evening!"

"Thank ya, ma'am, same to ya." He tipped his helmet to her and turned to make his way back into town, leaving the two young men to follow the new Cerulean Gym trainer inside.

Not much had changed in the previous few years since Ash had last been there. There was still the lobby straight ahead with a door branching off to the right leading to the huge pool used as a battling arena. Right behind the front desk was an elevator and an emergency staircase that would take visitors either downstairs to the aquarium or upstairs to the gym leader's private living quarters. Of course, one needed a passcode to go up.

Marina led the two of them plus Pikachu to the elevator and pressed the button to open it. A short ride upstairs and a few buttons pressed on a small four-by-four keypad and they were in, staring at the rather unfamiliar setting of Misty's childhood home. It looked obviously different than it had the one and only other time they'd been here, seeing as a new resident occupied the space.

"Sorry it's so messy and underfurnished. It's kinda hard. . . taking the place of four people." Marina commented with a bashful and somber expression. Things grew quiet between all of them as they took their seats on the furniture nearby, Brock and Ash claiming the soda while she landed on the couch.

"So. . . what's _really _going on?" she finally asked.

Ash and Brock turned and gave each other the same despondent look before the former cleared his throat and started with introductions. It seemed the most neutral way to go about it.

"Well, first, if you don't remember, I'm Ash and this is Brock. He traveled with Misty and I for a couple years before she had to come back home and run the gym. He was staying with. . . a friend. . . when we went through the Orange Islands though," he phrased rather delicately as Brock's expression went rigid at the near-mention of Professor Ivy.

"Uh, anyway, we saw the newscast yesterday and heard how you were taking over the gym. We tried calling just in case Misty was here because we wanted to ask her about it but the line's been disconnected. Guess things have gotten pretty hectic lately, huh?"

"Yeah," Marina said with a sigh and her arms perched together at her knees, "I won an honorable title against Drake in the Archepilago a year and a half ago. It was pretty busy for awhile after that, interviews, challenges. . . I hadn't even won the match! But I guess it was close enough to put my name out there. Then I got a phone call about eight months ago asking if I'd like the position. At first I really wanted it. You remember how much I love water-types, don't ya?" A brief moment of silence as she gave Ash half a glance before continuing, "So the Indigo League flew me out here and told me to take a look around and give them my two cents. I really, really wanted to say yes. . . I mean, to train and battle purely with water Pokemon as an official gym leader? It was like a dream. And then Misty and her sisters came home in the middle of the inspection. I recognized Misty right away, I'd tried looking her up back home but there wasn't really a lot of info to go on so nothing panned out. It was pure coincidence that I met her again here.

"Anyway, she looked _really _confused while her sisters seemed to know everything about it. Turns out they _forgot _to tell her that she was going to lose her home soon. Seeing the look of shock on her face, hearing her yell and defend her reputation, I told them no. It took a lot of willpower to say so too. . . but the League council member who'd accompanied me here just ignored it all and said they'd work out the negotiations later."

"And now, eight months into it. . ." Brock continued for her, urging her to continue.

"They tried wearing me down, kept calling, spread a few rumors and stories so I wouldn't be left alone about it. Other specialty trainers sought me out on their behalf to challenge me and, everytime I won, the Indigo League had more incentive to force me to accept the position."

"That sounds like a really dirty tactic," Brock commented with a frown.

"Yeah, and like I said before, if it wasn't something I really wanted to begin with, I'd probably have taken more offense to their way of convincing me. But anyway, the last straw was the phone-call I'd received from Misty about a month ago."

"What did she say? Was she thanking you for rejecting the position?" Ash asked with bated breath, leaning forward to hear more.

"No. . . That's the thing. The League had already _made _their decision. . . Whether or not I became the new trainer, they already had plans to remove the Waterflower sisters from leadership, had posted about the gym shutting down temporarily on the official website. I'd said no in the beginning because Misty sounded so desperate. . . But when she called, she told me to take the job and then thanked me. She said she was glad it was at least someone she knew, someone who adored water-types the same as her. She knew I'd treat the responsibility well. I guess she finally realized that there was no fighting it. Indigo Plateau had complete control of the entire situation."

"That's just. . ." Ash tapered off, unwilling to believe that the first League he'd attended, the start of his grandest dream, would use such cheap tricks to manipulate the events at hand. It didn't feel good, didn't feel right, to remember putting his faith in something so wholeheartedly only to have it turn out like this.

"So she knew for awhile before that then. . . that this was going to happen?" Brock asked in his place to ensure that the conversation continued moving forward.

"Well, _yeah_, of course. The League could hardly walk in and demand that the Waterflower sisters vacate the premesis on the spot." A few brief moments of silence before Marina's eyes widened in dawning comprehension, "Hey, that's true. . . You guys said you heard about this from the news. . . _Misty _didn't tell you? Hey!" And this time she stared pointedly at Ash, "Aren't you supposed to be her friend? I thought you two seemed close when we met but maybe I was wrong. . . How come _you_ didn't know about this?"

Ash, both humbled and ashamed, felt his jaw drop slightly open and a strange croaking sound come out. After a few seconds, he clamped his mouth shut again, then open once more, but still nothing substantial came out.

"Pikapi. . ." his best buddy mourned, patting him on the leg.

"Look, she didn't tell us and we admit we hadn't bothered calling to ask. But we're here now and we need to talk to her about all of this. So could you tell us where she is so we could get to it?" Brock asked rather sharply, perhaps out of his own sense of guilt.

"Alright, alright, geez, ya don't have to bite my head off. It's not that big a deal. . . not my business anyway. . . But, um, well, let's see. . . We finished signing the paperwork two nights ago. . . That's when the local news stations got the green light to air their reports about the transfer of power in the Cerulean Gym. . . As far as I know, Misty and her sisters should still be staying at the Seaside Breeze Hotel a few blocks from here. The League's giving them a weekly stipend until they can find a new place to live. If you guys want, I can show you there. I know their room number and everything. I'll probably get you there faster."

Ash, Brock, and Pikachu all leapt up in agreement, the two young men throwing their bags over their shoulders and marching back towards the elevator. Marina followed after them, switching off the lights to her new home as she went, a sense of dread filling her at the thought of how everything seemed to be turning out. And ahead of her, Ash seemed to be thinking along the same lines as the few of them flew out the front doors of the gym and through the mess of the construction halted on the lawn before them.

Eight months. _Nearly an entire year._ How could Misty have known all that time what was going to happen to her family and not even attempt to call her friends and tell them? How could she not ask for help? Did she really think, as Brock had suggested earlier, that they wouldn't care? What was going through her head while she fought all this time against the Indigo League and their decision to take her title as gym leader away from her? Had she only given in because Marina was a friend? Had she sincerely given up all hope that she could win against the League?

Ten minutes of speed walking later and they were standing at the front desk of the Seaside Breeze hotel, wheezing for more oxygen and awaiting clearance to go upstairs to the Waterflowers hotel room. Ash's heartrate increased dramatically at the thought that he'd soon be reunited with his best friend again. It had been _far _too long. . .

He glanced at Brock, flipped to Marina, then to Pikachu. All three nodded at him, urging him to understand that it would be alright and that he was obviously doing the right thing.

Three flights in an elevator and down two hallways. They were approaching the end of their last corridor, a grand window framing the wall ahead of them overlooking a fantastic beach-side view, but they all stopped just short of it and made a sharp right.

Room 328.

_So this is where she is._

He held up a fist and took a short breath before hesitantly wrapping his knuckles against the dark mahogany of the door.

There were no muffled sounds from within the room. Ash's brow furrowed and Marina checked her wristwatch.

"It _is _kinda late. . . They could be sleeping."

"Not good enough!" Brock exclaimed with a passing look at Ash's troubled expression. Then he too raised a fist and banged on the door. "Misty? C'mon, Misty, open up! It's us!"

_Us_. Hopefully even after how long it'd been, she'd still recognize their voices.

Ash, regaining some hope, decided to join in, only to be cut off by Marina stepping in between them and the suite door.

"Guys, you can't do that here! This is a four star establishment! You can't just go around yelling and kicking doors down because you're upset! We have to be tactical about this!" And then, with a coy smile, she removed a key card from her jumper pocket.

"Uh. . . Where'd you get that?" Ash asked, pointing rudely at her.

"It's pretty easy to lose things like this if you don't pay careful attention. . ." she muttered in response, twisting on her heel and sliding the card into the slot just above the handle in the door.

"So let me get this straight. . . You've gone from being gullible to petty theft?" Brock gaped at her, "From one addiction to another. . ."

"Yeah, I sorta wish _you'd _give it a try sometime, Brocko. There'd be a lot less restraining orders. . ."

"Oh, don't worry! The master card is just going to be missing for an hour or two. Soon the hotel manager will realize he simply _misplaced_ it somewhere around the front desk downstairs. Now let's do this!"

There was a faint beep and the small red light on the door blinked green. Marina replaced the card in her pocket again and twisted the handle.

"Tada!" And she stood back with her arms thrown open invitingly as the door slid open and revealed the dark and quiet room beyond to them.

Brock stepped forward and flipped the nearest light switch, causing the chandelier overhead to flutter on and brighten the entire place with a soft, glowing white. Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulder and ran inside as well, jumping onto the nearest (empty) bed and craning his neck around before sniffing at the air for anything familiar.

Finally Ash and Marina entered too, the latter marching towards the balcony to check outside while the former slowly ambled towards the bathroom. Surely they were just missing something. Surely Misty was hiding out here somewhere, perhaps keeping a low profile because she didn't want them to see how upset she was.

_Yeah right. Since when has she had a problem admitting how she feels?_

Well, maybe she felt embarrassed about losing her title then.

_That sure would make things easier to handle_.

Could she have finally felt guilty about not telling them what was going on?

_No, that would only make _me _feel better. . ._

Pikachu looked up at his trainer with a somber expression, shaking his head.

"Kachu. . ."

"I don't see anything, Ash," Brock told him with a long sigh.

"Yeah, she's not out on the balcony. . ." Marina continued with her hands on her hips while she nibbled on her bottom lip. "Or in the bathroom. Or the closet. Or anywhere."

"She's not. . . here?" Ash breathed, stepping back towards the middle of the room and approaching the bed Pikachu was sitting on. He glared furiously at it as if everything were its fault, flexing his fists before giving up and kicking at the bottom half of the frame. "She's not here!"

"Ash, stop!" Brock demanded, grabbing the younger trainer by his arm and dragging him away from the bed again. Pikachu leapt towards them as well, attempting to console his best friend after finding out that they'd reached yet another dead end in their investigation.

"Brock, this is stupid! Let me go!" Ash heaved inwardly before starting to shout again, "And you! I thought she was supposed to be here!" he cried out, rounding on Marina, who flinched and took a step back.

"Eh? B - but she _was_. . . This is weird. She never told me or the League council that she and her sisters had found a place to go. Maybe something else happened to them between last night and today."

"Like what?"

"Like. . . something bad?" Brock asked, and then took another look around the room, "I don't think so. It doesn't look like there was any sort of struggle. If Misty and her sisters took off anywhere, they did it of their own free will. Are you sure they even stayed here overnight?"

"Well, no," Marina started, a hand to her chin as she thought back on it, "I mean, after all of the paperwork had been signed, I walked them back here to their room, but it's not like I sat around and watched them go to bed or anything. I didn't even come inside. . . Why do you ask?"

"It's just. . . determining the time they left will help us figure out the distance they were able to travel. Maybe, anyway. Could they have taken anything of value with them? Maybe something that the gym wouldn't be able to run without? Maybe the Cascade Badge case? Or the deed? You know, that way they still had some control over it." Brock asked, attempting to make sense of everything.

"No. . . I have those things back home."

"How long were they staying here?" Ash asked suddenly, looking around the room again as if just noticing something.

"A couple months now. They needed to be out before construction was due to start at the gym."

"Brock, they're gone."

". . . Yes, Ash, we know."

"No, I mean, they're _gone_. Like, gone-gone." And to make his point, Ash walked towards the nearest vanity and pulled open the drawers one by one, all of which were empty. He threw open the door to the walk-in closet and then marched into the bathroom and began rummaging under the sink. "There's nothing here. No personal affects, clothes, make-up, hygienic supplies, _nothing_. I don't think there has been for awhile. If they'd been staying here for a couple of months, shouldn't they have left something behind?"

It was true. There were no boxes of household appliances or even a random toothbrush or bottle of nail polish. It was as if the room had never been used.

"You're right. Geezus, Ash, this is bad. . ."

"Why? Does it mean something different now?" Marina asked them in a rather hushed, concerned tone.

"Yeah. . . It means that they didn't run, at least not last night. They just vanished."

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes - **Well, hello there, neighbor! I finally decided to post chapter two! I wanted to do some quick editing on it first and I didn't have any time until today so sorry it took so long. But, hey, at least it's finally here!

I do want to thank everyone for the reviews! I definitely didn't expect fourteen for the first chapter when I posted it. I kinda hope that I'll get just as many this time. . . However, I understand that not everyone cares to review and that writing shouldn't be about how many reviews I receive. (Doesn't mean I don't love to hear from ya though!)

It sounds like a couple of you know where I'm going with this, or at least have some sort of clue. I thought it had been rather obvious (the title is a give-away) but only if you know what an Undine is or have bothered to look it up. You could also look up Misty's wikipedia page and view the names chosen for her character in other countries, one of which is based off of the mythical creature, Undine. As a final clue, read up on the Sleep of Ondine story, which has a very slight basis for this fic.

I haven't finished chapter three yet (though I'm at least halfway there), nor have I started chapter four, but I have a lot of notes written and I just need to find time to type it all up. Please forgive me if it takes a little longer to update!

Next time, Ash and Brock meet the Nurse Joy who did Misty's first gym inspection! They also receive a few more cryptic clues before finally getting a phone-call from Misty, herself! Is it time to say goodbye?


	3. three

**Disclaimer **- Everything you're about to read belongs to someone else. You know, except for the total compilation of ideas. That would be mine. Yup yup.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay guys, this is a weird one. I think it definitely qualifies for the _fantasy_ genre I picked for it. Plus it's almost sickeningly romantic. Ugh, I hope I come out of this one unscathed. Even if you don't understand something or don't like or appreciate it, I hope you'll stick it out til the end and also - maybe, just _maybe_ - give me a review and tell me what you thought.

So, without further ado. . .

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Title **- "Undine's Thread" / part three

**O**o**O**o**O**

If Ash had thought things were over for now, he'd be greatly impressed half-an-hour later as he and Brock walked into the Cerulean City Center to heal their Pokemon and reserve a room for the night. Panic gnawed at the back of his mind, numbing his finger tips. He clenched and unclenched his fists mechanically but it didn't help to ebb the tingling, nor the nagging feeling of worry.

And yes, of course he was worried! Here he was, wandering aimlessly through town, the knowledge that Misty was simply _nowhere _echoing around in his skull. . . but what could he do? He was starving, hadn't eaten in nearly a day, Pikachu was exhausted, Brock was out of ideas. . . All of them were running on empty. And nothing was scarier than that thought on top of everything else.

They couldn't find anymore clues at the hotel, as if finding _nothing _had been much of a clue at all. So they'd said goodnight to Marina, telling her that they planned on staying in town at least overnight so that they could compare notes and figure out what to do next. She'd wished them luck, asked them a _very _silly question, to which they'd honestly answered, and then thanked them.

_"Are you gonna give up on looking for her now?"_

Ash and Brock had turned and quirked a brow at one another as if it was the most ridiculous, perpostrous notion in the entire world but Pikachu had responded before them, leaping forward and rampantly shaking his head.

_"Pikachupi pika pi chu kachu!"_

_"Yeah, like Pikachu said. . . I mean, what makes you think that we would ever?"_

But it all still worried him. Where were they supposed to go looking now with absolutely no leads? Given, that wouldn't stop them from overturning every Geodude they could find, but it had only been two days since they'd first learned that something was wrong with Misty at all. The thought of how long it could possibly take to find her. . . Well. . . it was almost enough to kill him.

Before Ash knew it, the two of them were standing before the desk of the Cerulean PokeCenter, Nurse Joy staring at them quizzically, concerned about the melancholy experessions on their faces. Too depressed to come up with his usual one-liners, or possibly just as lethargic as his companions, Brock patted Ash softly on the back as if to urge him forward. It worked and the younger trainer sighed as he approached the counter first, removing the PokeBalls from his belt and allowing Pikachu to leap from his shoulder again. Brock followed suit.

"Uh, yeah. . . We'd like to check in our Pokemon please," he muttered to the woman monotonously.

"Alright, thank you very much! Is there anything else I can do for you boys right now?" the kind nurse asked with a pleasant smile, as if hoping it would be enough to eradicate their fears, turning and placing all of the PokeBalls on the stretcher behind her and letting it be wheeled away by her partner, Chansey.

"We're going to call our families first but we'd like to know if you have any open rooms for the night."

"Oh yes," and now Joy was frowning too as she explained further to them, "Since the gym is temporarily shut down, not many trainers have been traveling to the city as of late. I have plenty of openings so there's no rush in reserving a couple of beds. Take all the time you need."

"Are you alright?" Ash asked her, concerned. He couldn't think of anything he may have done wrong, so it was rather strange to see one of the always perky PokeNurses looking so upset.

"Oh, no, it's not you, it's just. . . I knew the gym trainer from before. Her name was Misty."

Ash and Brock gave each other a half-hearted glance before turning back to the nurse and swallowing the respective lumps in each of their throats.

"Yeah. . . We know."

"Well, I just don't agree with how everything has turned out, to put it nicely." She noticed that she had a rather captive audience and so decided to continue on. "I was a temporary member of the PIA, a registered department of the League in charge of inspecting gyms and passing or failing the trainers in charge depending on their level of skill. . . A few years ago, I had the pleasure of inspecting the Cerulean Gym, just in time for Misty to take over as the new official leader."

"Oh yeah. . . ?" Ash asked, his vision starting to blur as a thought occured to him, "Was it your fault that this happened then? Did you fail Misty and cause the League to kick her out of the gym? Did you _make _this happen?" His voice continued to slowly raise in tempo the closer he got to the end of his interrogation. By the end of it, Joy was gaping at him open-mouthed (perhaps due to his rudeness) and Brock was gripping his arm to prevent him flying off the handle again like what had happened back at the hotel.

"No! I. . . I passed her! She did well on the exam, my only concern at the time was that she wouldn't be able to work up the courage to take charge. . . But she did!" Joy went on to say as Ash opened his mouth to yell at her some more, "In the end, she proved just how strong of a gym trainer she is, and how capable. I had thought that things would get better for her family from there but. . . Two out of five inspections isn't enough to keep them in charge, I'm afraid. I pushed for the League to rethink their decision but I was only a temp. What power did I really have over them?"

Ash felt the strength drain from his body and he pulled back again before stumbling numbly away towards the public video-phones hanging from the left wall.

He collapsed onto the first empty bench he approached and felt the wave of foreboding wash over him. Something was wrong. . . Well, no, wait, _of course _something was wrong. It had apparently been wrong for awhile. But beyond that, he couldn't help the unsettling fear that everyone seemed to be connected by the same wave of negativity now-a-days. They felt so powerless, gave up so easily. . . He'd been rather disappointed when it seemed Misty had joined the bandwagon. And now even Joy was pleading that she couldn't have done anything to help in the end.

They were pawns, apparently useless and entirely expendable, directed from a higher, monopolizing power that had no trouble ripping apart their entire world, taking the chess board and yanking it off the table, into the air and watching the pieces soar in every direction, only to pick them up and start completely over.

None of them meant a thing in the grand scheme.

"Ash, are you alright?" Brock asked from above him, and he slowly craned his neck upwards to get a better look at the breeder-in-training. At the same time he frowned, unable to help himself.

_What a stupid thing to ask_.

"Never mind, got it, worst question ever right now. I guess what I mean is," and there was an abrupt clearing of the throat as he tried again, "are you _going _to be alright?"

Ash shrugged aimlessly, unable to think of a proper response to that one.

"You can't keep doing this though."

"Doing what? Getting upset? Acting out in a reasonable fashion since my native regional League blacklisted my best friend and forced her from her own home because h - her _sisters _didn't want to take proper responsibility for it?"

Brock stared at him, brow quirked in question.

"You know that's what happened here, man, obviously! Misty wanted all along to be the gym trainer, she wanted to show her sisters she could do it, and not only that, but she also knew that they _weren't _doing it! You heard Nurse Joy, Misty passed _her _inspection!"

"There were _two _passes, though, Ash, remember? And hers was well over a couple years ago."

"So what? We've known her family for six years! But in the four years of them running the gym before Misty came home, only _one _pass between the three of them? Whereas she comes back and immediately proves herself to this PIA-group. . . thing!" The young trainer took a moment to inhale deeply, nearly gasping for breath after everything he'd just said, "I bet you anything that if she _had _been in charge of the gym all these years, her family would still be running it and I - _we _- wouldn't be in this situation!"

"Well. . . Maybe you hadn't thought of this, Ash, but if Misty had been running the gym all these years, you guys also wouldn't have met, traveled together, and gotten to be as close as you are now."

Things grew quiet again almost immediately as Ash glared at the floor and Brock stared imploringly at him, waiting for a reaction.

Finally, the raven-haired trainer let loose a sharp mutter.

"So?"

"So. . . Isn't that just as important to you? You're right, if she'd been in charge all this time, we probably wouldn't be here now. But there are other reasons we could not be here, caring for her as much as we do. What if her family had still failed to pass those inspections? What if she didn't have us at all but was still facing the situation alone? After all, if we hadn't all traveled together, if we weren't best friends, would we really be looking for her as hard as we have been?"

"Of course we would!"

"_Really_, Ash?" The two of them stared each other down for a few seconds before Brock automatically continued, "You're a good guy, yeah, but I just don't see you going on a search for some random gym trainer you may have happened to battle five or so years ago. Wouldn't that have been the extent of your relationship with her if she had been running the gym all along?"

Another brief moment of silence before Ash finally rolled his eyes and relented, "Alright, okay, fine. . . This probably wouldn't have hit as close to home if she'd been stuck in Cerulean for all those years instead of traveling with us. . . What's your point, Brocko?"

"My point is that you should be careful what you wish for. And also that you should get a grip on yourself so you don't say anything else you may regret later. Nobody is out to get _you_ and I'm sure that nobody personally targetted _Misty _either. These things happen in the real world, Ash, as unfortunate as it is. Just be proud that we're doing all that we can to help the situation and bear in mind that what you say to people who may only be trying to assist you may cause negative repercussions later on."

Ash nibbled on his bottom lip, doing as Brock had said and holding in any raving outbursts he may have had sitting on the edge of his tongue. Finally he nodded and swiveled around on the spot to face the video-phone.

"What are you doing now?"

"What's it look like, Brock? I'm calling my mom. Like I said before, she wanted me to keep her updated. . . I definitely think she'd want me to inform her of what we found at the hotel. . . Or else, what we didn't find."

For the next half-an-hour or so, Ash and Brock dialed and made contact with their families, letting them in on more details of the situation and receiving outside news as well. Dawn had apparently tried to call the two of them, finally hearing of the news all the way in Sinnoh. It hadn't meant as much to her seeing as she'd never personally met Misty, but she had recognized the name, and realized that it must have been that friend they'd discussed on the riverbed the day they'd captured Buizel. May had called back too, hoping to hear more about what was going on. Ash left a message with her family since she was indisposed, telling her how they'd reached Cerulean City and had located Misty's whereabouts up until the evening before.

They made sure they ended the calls on a positive note, reminding everyone that this _was _important and that they wouldn't be giving up anytime soon. Mrs. Ketchum had rarely ever looked so proud of her son before.

Finally, everyone was on the same page and off to carry on their business. After all, as it was commonly known, it was usually a good idea to keep busy when something presumably bad was going on and you couldn't prevent it.

Afterwards they found themselves back up at the front counter again, signing in their names so that they could receive the key to their room. It was when they had turned their backs and decided they had no other choice but to turn in for the night that Nurse Joy seemed to register the identity behind their messy scrawl and called out to them once more.

"Eh. . . ? Oh, please wait a moment!" she gasped as she rose from her seat behind the computer monitor and held the clipboard up, pointing to the first signature there, "Your name is. . ."

Brock, finally taking the opportunity to throw himself at the closest attractive female he could find, leapt forward and clasped Joy's hand in his own.

"Oh, my sweet, caring Nurse Joy, I'd be more than happy to tell you my name! And if you'd like, I could also write down my personal contact information so that I'll always be available to answer your every beck and call just in-"

"Actually, I was referring to your friend," the woman interrupted the overly-hormonal teenager, cautiously ripping her hand from his rather forceful grip. He hung his head in shame and despair, thoroughly rejected, as she stepped around him and approached Ash, "Your name is Ash Ketchum?"

"Uh. . . Y - yeah. I mean, yes, that's my name. . . Is this about earlier? Look, I'm sorry, it's just that Misty is my friend and she didn't tell me about this and I'm worried and my other friend, Brock, and I, we're looking for her and we can't find her and we're out of ideas on what to do and I know it's my fault because Misty used to say it was always my fault and that I'm so dense and she doesn't understand how she'd lasted so long with me and. . ." But while he'd been rambling, Joy had rounded the desk and approached him, a sharp look in her eyes.

"Look, I said I'm sorry, okay? What else do you - uh, hello. . . ?" She'd only gotten closer to him as he attempted to apologize repeatedly, their noses now a few inches apart. "Can I help you with something?"

"Misty's your friend, huh? Alright, I can see that. . . I was never able to find you that time when I traveled to Hoenn, but I think I can make it up to her now. . ." the woman said, seemingly to herself if her soft tone of voice was any indication, "Mr. Ketchum, Misty handed me something yesterday. She said she was almost one hundred percent sure that you would be coming this way to try and find her and she wanted me to give this to you. . ."

The PokeNurse began patting down her own uniform, finding the pockets on the front of her jumper skirt and rummaging through them. Finally, after what felt like forever and a day, she removed a plain white envelope. She handed it tentatively to him and Ash, nerves and heart and breath jerking around inside him, accepted it with shaking vigilance.

_A clue_. It had to be, it must have been, there was no way that it could be anything else, right?

But it wasn't.

_I'll call you_.

That was it. Nothing else to help them find her.

A slew of emotions fluttered through Ash after he and Brock had browsed the curly cursive font that was Misty's penmanship. He felt the beginnings of anger once more, of course, felt like she was messing with him at this point and that she honestly just wanted him to chase her forever. (Of course, he'd never admit to anyone that he might just be planning to do that anyway.) Following that was the curiosity of how she was planning on contacting him exactly. Apparently she'd known he and Brock would come looking for her, so she must have known they wouldn't stop just because they hadn't found her yet. That being said, unless they stayed in town (AKA: wasted _more _precious time), chances were they'd miss their opportunity to talk to her. Finally, following all of that, was the confusion. She'd known they'd come looking. Didn't that mean that Brock's theory was dead and buried? She couldn't possibly have thought they wouldn't care about her getting kicked out of the gym _and yet at the same time _knew that they cared enough to try and find her again.

Th - that meant. . . It must have meant. . .

What did that mean?

_Why is she running? Why won't she talk to us in person? What's really going on?_

Ash felt his grip tightening on the letterhead despite all of his willpower telling him to stop, to listen to what Brock had said earlier about reeling in his fury before he did something he'd regret later. But still he said nothing, could think of nothing _to _say, and simply shoved the note in his pocket before marching off towards the back hallway leading to the many guest rooms in the Center.

Brock followed after him, thoroughly confused by his reaction to what they'd just read, yet still slightly impressed that the boy had followed his direction after all.

Of course, that positive reaction was blown straight away when they arrived at their room and Ash slammed the door closed behind him, walking swiftly towards the nearest bunk. Pikachu leapt from his shoulder and he threw his backpack to the ground, kicking his trainers off before falling backwards and twisting his torso round so that he laid out face-up along the length of the mattress, his hands interlocked behind his head.

Brock followed suit, however in a much calmer state of mind, and waited. Three and a half minutes later, Ash finally found something to say.

"Brock, is Misty your friend?"

"Wha. . . ?" the older of the two began in dumbfounded reply, "Of course she is! Why wouldn't she be?"

"Because I just. . . I'm buried so deep in this and I can't seem to keep my head above the water and meanwhile you're swimming circles around me. I figured you must not care about her if this entire situation isn't bugging you like it is me. So she can't be your friend, right?"

"Ash, just shut up. You don't know what you're saying."

Brows furrowed, Ash leapt up from his bed. "Then explain it to me! Why are you so. . . How can you be this calm? How come I'm struggling to keep a hold of myself, freaking out because my best friend is out in the wind somewhere, and you're just sitting here, twiddling your thumbs, telling me I need to practice lamozze breathing?"

"I told you that you needed to calm down too, didn't I?"

"Yeah but I can't!" Ash faltered as his breath cut short, listening to his brain as it told him what to do to alleviate the bursting pain in his heart. _Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. _But it was still so _hard_. Finally, he was able to attempt speaking again.

"I can't. I won't. It's not possible. If Pikachu disappeared overnight, it'd be the same. How can I get by thinking calmly when I don't know _anything _except that I can't do _anything_? What if it were one of your brothers or sisters who vanished? Could you still behave this way?"

"I don't know."

"So what's the difference between them and Misty?" Ash asked with heaving breath, as if this were the point he'd been trying to make all along.

"I don't know! But one of us has to keep his head on straight, alright? And since you're so incapable of it, I guess that means it'll have to be me!" There were a few moments of silence as both young men stared each other down, trying to make the other see their way, "You really need to stop and think for a second about why you're acting out so much just because of what happened to Misty."

"Why? Because she's my best friend. Because I care. I don't understand the curiosity, Brock. She's your friend too. Or at least, I thought so. Why does there have to be anymore of a reason?"

Now it was Brock's turn to sigh and lean back against his bed post, bag tossed aside unceramoniously as he clenched his eyes tightly shut and prayed for sleep to claim him.

"Because, unlike you, I can think about the situation without losing my cool. I have a relatively collected way of looking at everything. But every time I turn around, you're punching a wall or screaming yourself hoarse. You don't even wonder why this is so important to you? Why you're reacting so strongly to losing her? I get it, you're worried, you feel guilty, etc., but that's no excuse.

"So that's what I'm saying. Take a step back and examine your behavior. Figure out what the problem is now before you start burning your bridges."

Ash refused to respond to anything his older friend had said to him; perhaps because the exhaustion was finally beginning to set in, or else perhaps because he was probably right. But Brock had touched on a part of Ash's emotions that continued to sleep heavily even as the years passed him by and the young Pokemon trainer wasn't yet prepared to delve into them and decipher what lay beyond.

Their stomachs growled but they were both too tired to move. It wasn't until then that Ash realized he'd completely forgotten about eating altogether until now. He couldn't remember touching anything for lunch or dinner but it hadn't seemed to matter, his body had fueled itself on emotions, on aggravation and fear and worry, continuing on despite itself.

So sleep came uneasily to all three of them, flashes of dreams punctuating the darkness of the room they shared. Ash craned his neck around and stared through the cracks in the blinds covering their window, taking in the clear night skies and twinkling stars and moon, wondering if Misty was fortunate enough to see it all too. . . wherever she happened to be.

Of course, thinking like that only stirred up his restlessness. The hunger pains he'd felt before had vanished after a couple hours of ignoring them. That was fine, since he didn't have any appetite, nor the strength to eat through it anyway.

The next morning was very uncomfortable for Ash for various reasons. One was the fact that he'd rolled over onto Pikachu during one of his few moments of half-sleep and had been Thundershocked out of bed and to the ground. Another was that, once there, he'd realized that his body must have been completely worn down from his constant travels over the previous two days time and so his muscles and bones ached with every move. And finally, there was the blaring voice shrieking over the PA system for his attention.

"Brock Slate and Ash Ketchum, you have a phone-call on line one. Brock and Ash, you have a phone-call on line one."

Immediately blinking away the sleep in his eyes, Ash jumped to his feet and ignored the ripple of pain before running for the door, yanking it open, and taking off outside. Then Brock, his wits about him, realized something was wrong and pulled the boy back into the room so that he could put some pants on.

Ash sheepishly realized he was wearing only boxers and did the responsible thing before taking off full-speed once more. Out of the room, down the hall, round the corner and through the archway leading into the Cerulean City PokeCenter lobby, approaching the front desk where Nurse Joy sat diligently typing on her computer.

She looked up and smiled at him before pointing towards the first video-phone in a long line of public access receivers and, mouth clenched shut and breath laxing so much that his lungs were starting to tingle, Ash sat down before it, Pikachu on his shoulder once more, and turned the video-screen on.

It was her.

Bright red hair in that silly side ponytail that she - [they] - loved, blue-green eyes staring at him questioningly (probably because he hadn't said anything to her yet, nor could he think of anything _to _say), the exact same yellow-collared tank top with the blue button and red undershirt, yellow shorts, and what he could only assume were orange tennis shoes, though he couldn't see them from where he stood.

"Pikachu Pi!"

"Misty?" Brock asked hesitantly, causing Ash and Pikachu to jump. They hadn't realized that their friend had caught up to them, "It's you, right?"

"Of course, Brock. . . Don't be silly!" she responded just as awkwardly, probably because she knew she'd done them wrong by running away from their pursuit. But still, something else seemed weird about the way she'd spoken. As if, in between those six words, she'd needed to gasp for air.

"Were you running just now?" Ash asked, interrupting the intimacy of Brock and Misty's conversation.

"Well, hello to you. . . too, Mr. Pokemon Master," she replied with a small smile. It wasn't as if she'd expected anything less from him. She knew he cared, the fact that he was in Cerulean City proved it true, but Ash Ketchum was the only person she knew who could forget about it all in a split second in order to cure a sudden bout of curiosity. "And no. . . I wasn't. . . running."

There it was again. It seemed like every few syllables were punctuated by her need to breathe in, as if she couldn't seem to hold enough oxygen in her body for some reason. But if she hadn't been running, then why couldn't she breathe properly?

"Where are you? Are your sisters with you? Are you okay? Can we come see you?" Ash drilled her, deciding not to dwell on it. He felt a sick twisting in his gut and told himself it was because he was obviously hungry, having not eaten the night before. But with every question he asked, her expression seemed to grow darker, more melancholy, and he knew she wouldn't be giving him any of the answers he so desperately needed.

"Sorry, guys, it's my fault. . . My head wasn't in the game when the League came to do our last. . . inspection. And that failure on top of Daisy, Lily, and Violet's over the. . . past few years. . . I didn't think they'd just take the gym away from. . . us though. Like I said. . . My fault."

"Wait, why wasn't your head in the game? I thought you loved being the gym leader. Didn't you at least like knowing that your sisters respected you?" Ash asked, unable to help it. He took in her surroundings, Pidgey flying overhead with small parcels tied to their legs, smoke filtering from the right side of the screen. Somewhere in the distance, he heard some strange horn sound.

"Yeah but. . . sometimes that isn't enough for a person. I guess it. . . wasn't enough for me anyway. It's funny. . . I had what I needed but. . . since it wasn't what I wanted, I couldn't focus. I wish I'd had another chance. I think I. . . learned my lesson there."

"What you need but not what you want. . . You mean being the gym leader?" Brock asked her now but she smiled at him before her vision grew unfocused and she couldn't look at any one of them in particular.

"Look, I didn't call to chat about this. I apologized for it so let's. . . move on. I mainly called to tell you both goodbye for. . . for now. I mean, I need some time. . . to breathe, to think, but I can't do that if. . . I know you're out there worried and looking for me. I promise that. . . I'll be fine so could you guys just take that information to heart and. . . go back home? I'll find you when I've sorted everything out. . ." she finished, her breath coming in shorter gasps the more she spoke.

Ash squinted at the picture of her on-screen and saw the unusually pale color of her skin and the sweat clinging to her brow. And he knew she was lying to him.

"Where are you, Misty?" he attempted again, but she smiled and resisted shaking her head at his stubbornness.

"Thanks for worrying about me. . . I gotta go."

Ash felt his anger, formerly bottled up at the thought that he'd finally heard from his best friend, unleash itself in the most calculated fashion. He hurriedly picked up the receiver, cutting off the speaker-phone and video feed and opening his mouth to shout some sense at the girl.

"Misty, c'mon, you can't do this to us! We'll keep looking no matter how okay you claim to be! No matter what you say at all!"

"Even if I tell you that I don't. . . want that? That I'm fine on my own and that I. . . want you to go back home? That's quite disrespectful of you, Ash Ketchum. Now I'm going to say it one last time," she faltered so that she could relax her nerves, "leave me alone. I don't want to see you right now. Let me have some time to myself to figure things out and I'll get back to you in a little while. Do you understand what I'm asking of you? Will you listen to what I'm saying now?"

Despite himself and the gut-wrenching feeling telling him that this was all very wrong, he nodded at her before realizing that she wouldn't be able to see it and voicing his response.

"Yeah. . . I heard you, Misty."

"Good. I'll be seeing you around, Mr. Pokemon Master."

There was a click and the line went dead. Ash attempted to cope by reminding himself that she hadn't necessarily ended on a goodbye, that she'd told him she'd find him when she was ready. But then again, he was a rather impatient person on principle and he didn't like to wait for other people.

He had no time to feel disappointed or upset at all though because Joy's voice rung out over the PA system again.

"Ash Ketchum, Brock Slate, you have a phone-call on line two. Ash and Brock, phone-call on line two."

It was enough to shake him out of the numbness that had taken over for his frustration. So even after talking to her, he still had no idea where Misty was or how to help her? It was ridiculous. How could he have possibly screwed up so royally?

He, Brock, and Pikachu turned to look at Nurse Joy, who gave them a small smile and nodded her head at the phone again. They turned and pressed the blinking button on the monitor and watched as the screen lit up again, this time with Marina staring at them from the Cerulean Gym lobby.

"Guys, I remembered something!" she shouted without wait, causing them to flinch at the pitch of her voice. But they shook off their discomfort and waited for her to continue, perhaps still a couple of wrecks after the unfortunate end of their conversation with Misty only a minute ago.

"Something from last night?" Brock urged her on hesitantly.

"No, no, it was from a couple days ago! From the day before we'd finished signing all of the paperwork. I hadn't thought anything on it then but I figure, now that they've all up and gone, every theory and clue counts, right?"

"Yeah, definitely," and Ash forced himself to exhale before continuing to speak, "so what did you remember?"

"Well, I don't really know what it means but. . . we had just finished finalizing the new contract with the League council, they were going to email a copy to HQ and get back to us the next day. . . Misty and her sisters were in the lobby getting ready to go back to the Seaside Breeze. . . And I heard Daisy, Lily, and Violet forcing her to agree with them about something. . . It sounded like they had to make a mandatory stop at the PokeCenter." She stopped there and let them drink the information in for a moment.

"I figure since you're there now, you can ask around about it," she concluded and they nodded before thanking her and hanging up the phone again.

Ash and Brock turned and stared each other down once more, a silent conversation taking place between them. What else could they do but ask Nurse Joy if she had spoken with Misty recently, beyond receiving that letter for Ash? The woman had claimed she'd gotten to know the former Cerulean gym trainer, hadn't she? Perhaps she'd become a confidante to the girl. And Misty, well, she had basically told the two of them to leave her alone, that she wasn't going to help them find her. They had to figure out their next move from some other source.

"You want to know what the Waterflower sisters were doing here a few days ago?" Nurse Joy asked them skeptically a few minutes later after they'd explained as much as they could to her. For the sake of earning answers, they had to explain to her more about Misty's disappearance, and due to her curiosity, they had to reveal that it was Marina who'd led them back to her again. "It's true that they came here but I'm really not at liberty to discuss what happened. It's their business, their choice, and there are confidentiality issues. . ."

"Their choice?" Ash probed but Brock, thinking it through and remembering something from a couple nights ago, took a gander.

"Nurse Joy, where are you keeping their Pokemon?"

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- Haha, I kinda forgot about updating this, what with working so many hours and buying a new, shiny laptop ((**drool**)) and stuff. Been kinda busy, as you can probably tell. Plus, as I was writing, I kind of forgot about having to split up the chapters so I cut off here at a strange place. I don't like it very much, it seems too sudden, but I figure if I waited any longer, it would be even harder to find somewhere to leave you all hanging. Better sooner than later, right? Haha!

A couple of things; firstly, thanks for the reviews (to those who _did _review). I didn't get as many as I had received for chapter one but I've made my peace with it. I'm not as popular as I used to be ((**sob**)) and Pokeshipping is on the decline so of course I wouldn't have as many readers as I used to.

Secondly, a quick note, I may be extending this fic from four to five chapters. I know I'm moving quickly, time doesn't really seem to exist in this fic, it just keeps trucking along, but I'm still trying to pace the characters and the plot developments. That being said, depending on how things go, I may split up the final confrontation between Ash and Misty into two chapters. . . Maybe. In case that matters to some people.

Thirdly, before I forget, I wanted to ask if there were any Misty-fans out there. I mean, like, wish-she-were-back-in-the-series, it-just-isn't-the-same-without-her, yeah-she-was-flawed-as-a-character-but-you-know, lacking-development-even-as-a-sidekick-but-still-pretty-damn-awesome fans. I'm asking because I, as one of those very few fans, have decided to undergo a _major _project (title and synopsis for it on my FFN bio under "fics in the making" category)! The project is a rewrite of the anime, an AU version that follows Misty's "what if" Pokemon journey. . . as in, what if it _were _Misty's journey and she hadn't joined Ash on his? Where would she be as a trainer? How strong would she be and what changes would take place to her Pokemon team? What would become of her fears and insecurities and how would she mature? We've seen Ash's story in the original anime, let alone in most fanfics where he and Misty don't travel together. . . but what if it wasn't _his _story this time around?

I've written two and a half chapters on this very long project. Yes, she will keep most - if not all - of the original Pokemon she had in the anime, no she will not be challenging the Kanto gym leaders for badges (there's a law in my version that won't enable her to), and I do change a few things around. There will also be hints for Pokeshipping, but it might seem even slower moving than the anime because they don't get to know each other as fast as they did there.

I've already given a couple of special people out there a sneak peak at the first two chapters and wouldn't mind some more advice on the matter. If you're interested in reading on it, please say so in your review. If only a couple people seem so, I'll PM you/email you a scene or two. If a lot of you seem so, I'll simply post a spoiler for it when I upload the next chapter of **Undine's Thread**. All the more incentive to review, right? ((**cheshire grin**))


	4. four

**Disclaimer **- Everything you're about to read belongs to someone else. You know, except for the total compilation of ideas. That would be mine. Yup yup.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay guys, this is a weird one. I think it definitely qualifies for the _fantasy_ genre I picked for it. Plus it's almost sickeningly romantic. Ugh, I hope I come out of this one unscathed. Even if you don't understand something or don't like or appreciate it, I hope you'll stick it out til the end and also - maybe, just _maybe_ - give me a review and tell me what you thought.

So, without further ado. . .

**New Note **- I changed a few things up in this chapter _after_ posting it. I don't like doing it, but I forgot a short conversation I wanted added in here so that I could have a short reflection on it during the finale next chapter. Therefore, **to anyone who read this chapter during the first eight hours of posting it**, I ask that you skim through it again and find what you (and I, unfortunately) missed the first time around.

Thank you, and I'm sorry for the mess!

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Title **- "Undine's Thread" / part four

**O**o**O**o**O**

_"Nurse Joy, where are you keeping their Pokemon?"_

Ash turned on his heel and stared at his older friend, not noticing that the Pokemon Nurse had done the same, a more-than-shocked expression on her face.

"But. . . how did you know?" she pleaded, mouth slightly agape. She hadn't revealed anything to them on accident, had she? She couldn't help the slight pang of guilt she felt. Misty had indeed come to see her a few days ago, along with her sisters. They had told her that it was temporary but that they couldn't manage to hold on to their Pokemon and take care of themselves as well while they looked for a new place to live so they were curious as to whether they could leave them in the Center's care for an extended amount of time.

Joy had been uncomfortable with the idea at first. A Pokemon's place was with their trainer after all. But Daisy, Lily, and Violet had told her there really was no other choice and that they'd have to release the Pokemon otherwise. And Misty. . . had seemed so upset about it, so much so that she couldn't even find the tears to shed. So Joy had accepted the duty and taken the twenty or so PokeBalls into her custody. Afterwards, Misty had asked her not to tell anyone that they'd done such a thing, perhaps out of shame that she had had no other choice in the matter, or even worse, perhaps because she _wouldn't _make another choice.

"It was pretty easy to figure out. A couple days ago, another friend of ours was handed one of Misty's Pokemon, a baby water-type named Azuril. It was his Marril who birthed her after all so I guess it only seemed natural to Misty that the two of them be brought back together if she couldn't keep Azuril, herself. So I thought that if there was a chance she had already done such a thing with another of her Pokemon, then she'd probably do something similar to the rest of them." Brock further explained his theory. "She gave them to you."

"Nurse Joy!" Ash exclaimed loudly, though his tone was more pleading than it had been the day before. "She did, didn't she? Misty gave you her Pokemon? And you didn't tell us before? Now she's gone missing and you knew something about it and you didn't say anything!"

"Mr. Ketchum!" she shouted at him, finally losing her temper, "I've had just about enough of your outbursts! Now if you want to ask me about what happened, I will tell you since you were obviously very close to her, not to mention you know most of it already anyway. I already mentioned that there were confidentiality issues. Misty begged me not to say anything to anyone and, when she handed me the note to give to you, she probably meant that she didn't want you to find out what she'd done."

"Why? Why would she keep something like that from me? Like it would mean anything to me! It doesn't! Misty's still my best friend!"

Things grew awkward for a few seconds as he finally quieted down and realized everyone was staring at him.

"Pikachu Pi pika pi pi pi chu Pikapi." Pikachu attempted to console his trainer, wrapping his tail around the boy's head as if to protect him.

"Would you two follow me please?" Joy finally managed to respond, making sure that there were no other trainers approaching her for assistance before turning and walking towards the door leading to the nursing quarters.

Brock and Ash did as they were told and walked steadily behind her, keeping their eyes open and looking at everything they were seeing for the first time. To the right were the ICU centers used to treat gravely injured Pokemon. Straight ahead was the recuperation area, rest after surgical procedures or else small scratches and burns were treated on site. And to the left, where the lot of them were heading, was the pick-up area. Pokemon were kept here after treatment until their trainers came to take them back.

"So. . . these are them?" both trainers asked in hushed tones as they approached a small shelf area in the back. About a dozen PokeBalls were lined up in neat little rows on plush surfaces. A gold-plated tag hung above them all with the words _Property of Cerulean Gym_ printed across.

"Yes; Dewgong, four Goldeen, Gyarados, Psyduck, Horsea, two Luvdisc, Corsola, Seel, three Seaking, three Magikarp, Staryu, Starmie, Politoad, and two Shellder. . . They were all brought here two days ago by the Sensational Sisters. There was another letter accompanying them with dietary needs but that's about it."

"I know that this is what she said she wanted but. . ." Ash started, looking hopelessly at Brock. Things seemed to be getting bleaker and bleaker for them. "This can't be right. Misty would never give up her Pokemon without a fight. I mean. . ."

"Well, apparently she fought for almost a year, even though she knew that she couldn't appeal against the Indigo League. And she didn't give them up, did she?" Brock asked. "Isn't it only for a few days? Maybe we should just sit here and wait for her to come back for them? And then we could give her a nice talking to about all this."

"Yeah. . . Maybe. But. . ." It didn't sit right with the raven-haired trainer, but he feared voicing his opinion to a brick wall would continue to get him nowhere and so remained silent. Besides, he wasn't in the mood to yell and kick and scream just to get some more attention at this point. He glanced at all of the Pokeballs lined up against the wall beside him once more.

He hadn't realized that Misty had so many of them. It was hard to tell since they technically belonged to her entire family and most of them had remained at the gym, taking place in her sisters water ballets, the whole time she'd been on the road. All of these Pokemon, suddenly without a trainer, a friend that they'd come to respect and grow stronger with. . .

Ash felt a sense of nostalgia flitter its way through him and promised himself that he'd go visit all of his Pokemon when he returned to Pallet Town once all this was over.

"Hey, Ash, let's go get something to eat. It's around noon and we woke up too late for breakfast. You've gotta be hungry by now, right?" Brock asked him as casually as possible, his own stomach groaning from the lack of sustinance.

The younger of the two of them opened his mouth to claim he somehow _wasn't _completely starving but was cut off by the moan of his own abdomen as it demanded to be fed.

"Never mind. . . You're right, I guess." Though it greatly pained him to admit that there were other things just as important as whatever was going on with Misty. He turned to Pikachu, "Hey buddy, you wanna get something to eat?"

"Pika cha!"" the electric mouse exclaimed, utterly delighted after holding in his hunger for the better of the past three days.

"Alright then, I'll let Nurse Joy take you for an hour or so so she can set you up with something good."

Pikachu leapt willingly into the nurse's arms, who smiled down at him before Ash, attempting to be as polite as possible after everything he'd put the poor woman through, made way for himself and Brock.

"Ah, excuse us, Nurse Joy. . ."

Feeling somewhat dejected and melancholy, he let his legs automatically steer him in the direction he and Brock had originally come from, back out into the lobby and towards the archway leading to the trainer dorms. At the end of the far west side was the cafeteria and, luckily for the two of them, it had just reopened for lunch.

From the start of the very short line, to picking the few things Ash thought he might have the energy to eat, to paying and finding a place to sit down. . . It all seemed like a waste of time to him and he wondered why Brock would force him to worry about such a monotonous task at all but felt like he'd given up being bothered by it.

Of course, once he realized how he felt, the anger took over again. He couldn't believe that he was turning out like the rest of them, even if it _was _over such a trivial matter. Misty's sisters, who'd just let the League walk all over them and force them out of their home; Marina, who'd given in just because the League was using underhanded tactics to force her to take the job; Nurse Joy, who hadn't even tried to convince Misty that she was making the wrong choice in backing out and leaving her Pokemon behind; and then there was Misty herself, who'd decided she wouldn't tell her friends what was going on and who'd let things escalate for nearly a year, trying to handle it all on her own, before she too had realized it wasn't worth it.

Even though, deep down, Ash knew it must have been one of the most difficult challenges she'd ever faced, he was sure he couldn't forgive her for letting go so easily. He'd never lost anything that important before, of course, had always somehow managed victory over whatever trials he was due to face. . . In fact, the only exception to that rule was when he'd competed in the annual League tournaments.

Top sixteen in the Indigo League.

Top eight in the Silver and the Ever Grande Conferences.

Top four in the Lily of the Valley Conference and the Unova Summit.

Unofficially, sure, he'd won the Orange League and Battle Frontier and he was grateful for those small victories, but they never seemed to mean anything when compared to the big picture. They could never compare to his grand dream.

Suddenly, for just a moment, he thought he might understand the process of thought that had pushed Misty down the path leading to her disappearing act. As much as he couldn't agree with it, as sure as he knew he'd never do the same as her, he couldn't help wondering if she'd felt that weight over her head and that stone lodged in her throat the entire eight months she'd attempted to ward the Indigo League council off on her own.

But why did it have to be on her own anyway? He still couldn't help wondering what she seemed to be so scared of!

"Okay, so should we get down to business?" Brock asked him out of the blue as he laid his own lunch tray on the table and took a seat across from him.

"Uh," Ash started, blinking bewilderdly at his friend, unsure of just what was going on, "and by that you mean. . . ?"

"Look," Brock began with a sigh, ruffling a hand through his hair and wishing he could find all the right words to say, wary of the possible reaction he might receive, "we should put together all of the facts before we move any further. I mean, we've found out quite a lot, even if it doesn't feel like it. Maybe it's time to sit down and think the rest of our not-a-plan through."

"You really think we have _time _to sit down and-" Ash interrupted, but it wasn't long before he, too, was cut off.

"-We'll make time, then," and the older trainer did just as he'd suggested, however he found that his appetite was swiftly leaving him at the same time, though he attempted to put something down anyway. "We need to think on everything we've learned. So. . . The Indigo League began pressuring the Sensational Sisters to nullify their contract a minimum of nine months ago. They found a replacement talent in a trainer named Marina from the Orange Islands. Misty, who had become aware of the League's plans late in the game, attempted to fend them off however, for unknown reasons, she never alerted us to anything. And now, months down the road, when words gotten out and she can't keep it a secret anymore, she's willingly handed the gym away as well as given Nurse Joy her Pokemon, minus Azuril, who was returned to her mother. She only made an attempt to contact us when she was sure we'd heard about what happened from another source. . . According to our phone conversation with her, she is only taking a breather after losing something important to her and will be returning soon.

"So I guess the only question we can really answer now is this: do we believe her?"

Ash sat there, chewing on a bite of turkey sandwich that had long since lost its original texture and taste. A part of him wanted to yell out in negative, of course not, how could he, why would he ever believe his best friend would be okay about this, but he was pretty sure Brock would stab him with the plastic spoon that sat on his tray if he didn't think calmly and rationally about everything and come to a valid, unexploitable conclusion.

Finally, he swallowed, having mulled everything around and around in his mind.

"I can't. I just can't believe it, Brock."

"Is it really a matter of you _can't_, Ash? I need you to be honest here. And I want some proof."

"I. . . I don't know if I have any. I just know none of it seems right. What is she really running from? Why did she try to fight it on her own? Even if she knew she couldn't win, there's no way she's still stubborn enough to keep us out of it. We _are _her best friends. I won't let myself think any less of what we have. And maybe it's just that she doesn't seem to be thinking clearly. I mean, what experienced, seasoned trainer in their right mind would leave all of their Pokemon behind when traveling around the region? She could have been attacked by something in the wild! Even if she'd only taken _one _as a last ditch effort of self-preservation. . . but this doesn't make sense to me. Plus, she didn't look right when she called. She dodged a few of our questions that should have been rather easy to answer. She wouldn't tell us where her sisters were, she wouldn't explain why she was out of breath. I mean, she told us she _hadn't _been running beforehand but that doesn't really. . . Hey, are you smirking at me?" Ash faltered suddenly, finally noticing the smug little smile that had been creeping on Brock's face for the past few moments of his explanation. "What's up with you?"

"Oh, nothing. I do think it's interesting that, for someone claiming they didn't know of any evidence to support their theory, you managed to fit a lot of loose pieces together in one formal statement." There was another sigh as that same confident smirk washed away from the rest of his features. "Another thing; I think it's safe to say she never planned to tell us anything at all until she was well on her way."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, we've been thinking that maybe she was struggling with some semblance of embarrassment or her ego or something that led to her fighting against the League on her own. But Misty's a smart girl. Plus it's all too convenient. We didn't hear anything about this for almost a year, but in three days time, we band together, reach Cerulean, make contact with the only two locals who've seen her recently, and discover a heaping mess of suspicious things. . . Not to mention her suddenly running off overnight. No, it's too much to be coincidence. Misty knew that the news broadcast about the gym was going to be on TV that day and she knew we were back home. She counted on the chances of us seeing it and coming to find her. She made sure she'd be gone before we got here and left us a bunch of cryptic clues and a wild goose chase to boot. The letter and the phone-call? They were her last ditch attempts at keeping us at bay. This entire situation started simply enough. It only became a mystery because she made it out to be one."

"You're telling me that she _wanted _to keep everything from us from the beginning? She was never going to tell us anything at all? So if this hadn't somehow been a big deal. . . If nobody had thought to write about it and air that news segment, we never would have known and she would have been _okay _with it." Ash couldn't help gaping openmouthed as he put the last of the possible pieces of their puzzle together. However, within the next thirty seconds, he was able to shake himself out of it and leap from his seat, shouting, "Gah!" and pointing at his older friend in an accusatory sort of way.

"Look, Ash, I'm sure Misty has her reasons. I'm sure she could tell us all about them, really-"

"-I don't care about that anymore! I just thought that. . . It almost sounds like we're finally on the same page here!"

"Uh. . . I guess."

"You're on my side for the first time since we started this stupid thing!"

"Well, hold on, that's a little bit unfair. It wasn't like there was ever really a time when I was _against _you-"

"-Brock, if we agree on all of this then why are we still sitting here?" Ash huffed down at him from where he stood and the future breeder couldn't help the blank stare that consumed his face in response.

"Ash. . . Where do you propose we go from here? I mean, Misty could be _anywhere _at this rate."

"Not _anywhere_," the boy pouted, "but I guess I see your point. . ." And he finally sat back down again.

"Don't give up just yet-"

"-I would _never_, especially _now_-" Ash began, misinterpretting Brock's words as a more serious accusation than the what he had meant for them to be. Alas, the older trainer let it go.

"Maybe we should just _think _about it. We talked to Misty only a couple hours ago. Chances are she hasn't gotten very far from where she was this morning."

"Brock, we only talked for a little while! Less than ten minutes! Even if we were on video, even if we were able to see her, I don't think we would have gotten much. We should try eliminating the cities closest to Cerulean and work our way outward. I mean, she's probably still upset about the gym so maybe she went somewhere that would cheer her up."

"To take a leaf from your book, I don't think we have time for something like that. It can be our Plan B but, c'mon, your short-term memory can't be that bad. It's only been two and a half hours since we talked to her, Ash. You're telling me you can't remember anything?"

The raven-haired trainer slowly shook his head, his lips pursed as he tried to force together a video reel in his head and play it out again for his minds eye.

"Just relax and think about it. . ." Brock leaned back in his chair and attempted to do the same. "I remember. . . Buildings in the far back. . . And Carrier Pidgey. I didn't see any trees at all so it was probably an urban area, maybe near the water."

"Water?" Ash tried not to dwell on the word too much as his eyes closed and visions swam before him. He attempted to find something concrete, something telling, but he continued to be distracted by familiar blue-green eyes and red hair, a pale complexion and a frustratedly furrowed brow. Of course, even at a time like that when he was so obviously worried about her, Misty couldn't help but be angry at him for something insignificant. "Water. . ." he murmured again, and felt the pricklings of something as wooden boards floated into his line of vision.

Square, wooden boards (as well as some made of reenforced steel), shaped like boxes, stacked one on top of the other. . .

"Crates."

"Crates?"

"Yeah, and. . ."

_Head. . . Game. . _. Her head wasn't in it. . . She didn't have what she wanted. He could relate. Though, for what reason, he couldn't quite explain. He shook himself away from the thought but was drawn back to the first one instead. Her head wasn't in the game. Why wasn't her head in the game? Argh. . . There was something very important about that sentence!

_"Wait, why wasn't your head in the game? I thought you loved being the gym leader. . ."_

And then a fog horn had sounded in the background.

"A boat! Boats! A shipping yard!" he finally exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. The next conclusion came easily to the both of them.

"Vermilion City!" the two shouted in unison, on their feet once more and running to find Nurse Joy again.

Ash was first to get there, nearly ramming himself into the counter because he was far too agitated to stop running. It was the last thing he would be doing now that he finally knew where to go next.

"Oh, Ash, Pikachu was just getting ready to come find you," the PokeNurse said with a soft smile, apparently all prior tresspasses on his part forgiven, as Chansey wheeled the electric mouse towards the lot of them, a formality that could have otherwise been ignored. Noticing his slight gasp for air, she furrowed her brow and asked the obvious question. "Are you alright?"

"Pikapi, chu ka pika?" the small Pokemon asked, leaping onto his trainer's shoulder.

"Nurse Joy," Brock started instead, speaking over Ash's concerns for the time being, "I know that you're supposed to hold them but. . . do you think _we _could have them instead?"

Joy and Ash stared at the resolved expression on the future breeder's face.

"Brock?"

"Are you talking about Misty's Pokemon?"

"Misty didn't give up without a fight, Ash. Neither are we." Brock guaranteed with a certain look in his eye before he turned to face the Pokemon nurse again. It seemed as though he'd finally come around.

"I - I really shouldn't. . ." Joy somberly stated with a hand over her mouth as she seriously considered it. "Look, I'm worried about Misty too after everything you've told me to do with her running away. . . And the last thing she needs is to be attacked by a wild Pokemon without anything to defend herself," she paused here as the reproachful thought went through her mind, knowing that Ash and Brock had clearly thought of the same thing as they were nodding their heads furiously at her, "but they were her Pokemon and she clearly wanted them kept here. I can't simply give them away to you, even if you are her friends, and even if you have a better plan of what to do with them for the time being."

"Are you saying we're untrustworthy? I mean, it's not like we're members of Team Rocket or anything!" Ash attempted to defend himself, wondering if it was even worth wasting their time on this.

"I'm not saying that, Mr. Ketchum, and don't take that tone with me again." There was a brief moment of silence followed by a truly exhausted sigh. Nurse Joy raised two fingers to her temple and began to massage softly. "It's not that I can't trust you with her Pokemon. It's obvious to me that you're truly great friends of hers and that you'd treat them just fine, considering how well your _own _Pokemon are doing. . . I simply can't hand you somebody - _anybody _- else's Pokemon without concerning myself with where you'd be taking them and what you'd be doing with them."

Ash thought that Brock had worded it best.

"We'll take them where they belong. We promise."

About half-an-hour later, the two of them (plus Pikachu and an extra twenty or so PokeBalls between them) were finally on their way, taking the southern trail towards Saffron City. It had not taken much longer to convince Nurse Joy to play along with their scheme, however there'd been some paperwork needing filled out as well as an update to Ash's Pokedex and a hard copy of Professor Oak's excess traveling visa on hand just in case they were stopped and asked any questions.

The visa permitted them to keep more than six Pokemon each on hand along with stating that Ash was to have no permission using the Sensational Sisters' Pokemon since they had not been properly traded or gifted to him by their trainers while the Pokedex ensured that those aforementioned Pokemon weren't sent automatically to Professor Oak himself, thanks to the PC storage system.

Ash couldn't figure out at first why they had to have Misty's Pokemon with them, after all, she'd made it safely to Vermilion City if their resolution was right.

_"Misty knew that the news broadcast about the gym was going to be on TV that day and she knew we were back home. She counted on the chances of us seeing it and coming to find her."_

She knew they'd come and she'd only decided on running away to avoid them. . .

_"You're telling me that she _wanted _to keep everything from us from the beginning? She was never going to tell us anything at all?"_

She would have been okay with them never looking for her. Why. . . ? How could she possibly think like that? If she were any best friend of _his_, she should know that Ash wouldn't let her get away without trying anything and everything at his disposal to get her to change her mind.

And suddenly he _knew _why they had to have her Pokemon with them.

_"Misty begged me not to say anything to anyone and, when she handed me the note to give to you, she probably meant that she didn't want you to find out what she'd done."_

Because she knew they'd be able to do something with that knowledge. They could use it against her, get her to change her mind about the choices she'd made. Misty loved her friends; she was transparent like that, so she was keeping things from them probably because she thought it was for their benefit.

Misty also loved her Pokemon. It had been one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do, handing them over to Nurse Joy for an indefinite amount of time and walking away. They were going to need all hands on deck in order to pull this off. If they couldn't convince her with their own words that she'd made a mistake and that they could help her undo everything she'd tried to keep them out of then they'd have to rely on her Pokemon to get the message across.

"Brock," Ash started with a shallow gasp for air as he kept running, his lungs in desperate need of more than what he was giving them though he continued to ignore it. "We're getting close, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we'll probably be there within the hour," Brock breathed back at him, eyes staring straight ahead with the level of determination Ash hoped he too was capable of showing at the moment.

"Brock. . ."

"What?"

"I didn't get to ask you this before. . . I didn't wanna think about it and we'd just made some more progress so it seemed stupid of me to stop us from going. . . but I need to ask it now. What did you mean this morning when you said Misty had made everything out to be a mystery?" the younger trainer finished with an apprehensive bite to his tone. Of course he hadn't wanted to consider it, even though, looking back, it had been rather obvious. Misty had been keeping them both at arm's length this entire time.

"Like I said," Brock gasped back at him again, "the phone-call, the letter waiting for us at the PokeCenter. . . They seemed too coincidental to me. She knew we'd be coming. She was always trying to hold us just far enough back that she could remain one step ahead of us. And the phone-call," he faltered here with a bitter laugh that he made sure to turn purposely into a cough, though it wasn't soon enough for Ash not to notice.

_Something was wrong._

"What about it?" he wondered skeptically. He couldn't remember anything too telling about the talk they'd had with Misty earlier that day.

"Ash, if you were going to take a few days to yourself, even if you went as far as to need a few days away from us, your friends. . . would you go anywhere at all without Pikachu or your other Pokemon?"

_Something was very wrong here._

Ash felt his legs turn into even more of a gelatin mold than they'd been from the past few hours of running down the pathways leading to Vermilion City. Slowly his pace slowed down until he'd come to a complete stop.

"I. . . No. And not just because they're my friends too and I want them around no matter what. . . but because it's irresponsible to go anywhere without a Pokemon to help you out of a jam, right?"

_But then, it had been the case for awhile, hadn't it? He had simply taken too long to notice._

"Exactly. The letter, the gym, the hotel, her sisters, her Pokemon, the phone-call. She never said it in so many words, but I'm pretty sure Misty was trying to tell us goodbye today."

Ash gulped, his breath heaving and sweat dripping profusely from his brow. He didn't bother wiping it clean and Pikachu, who'd been running beside the two trainers for awhile now, leapt back onto his shoulder to hear the rest of what they had to say, even if the small electric mouse couldn't fully understand it all.

"_Goodbye for. . . for now."_ But not for forever, right?

"_Sorry guys, it's my fault. . . I'm sorry." _But there were far more important things than that to worry about! Why waste time apologizing?

"_I promise that. . . I'll be fine so could you guys just take that information to heart and. . . go back home?" _But how could they do that? And how could she lie to them? How could she possibly ever be crazy enough to say goodbye?

"Ash," Brock began anew, waiting for the younger trainer to snap out of his reverie and pay him some attention again, "I know you don't want to think about it, but there's also something else we should be concerned about here. If she's left her Pokemon and won't speak about her sisters, and if she really was trying to say goodbye. . . it's possible that Misty might be planning to do something else too."

_Something else._

"What do you mean by that?" Ash gaped, praying he was hearing it all wrong and yet knowing he couldn't possibly be. Brock was right, though. . . There was no way he could ever imagine Misty doing such things.

"Like, to herself. To permanently solve the problems she's been experiencing." The future breeder attempted to softly explore the subject, afraid that the word would be too harsh for Ash to comprehend. However, when the younger of the two continued to stare blankly at him (a ruse, he was sure), he drew breath and let the word fall past his lips anyway.

"I'm talking about _suicide_, Ash."

"No."

"I know you don't want to hear it, I know you don't think anyone would be capable of doing something like that to themselves, but we've got to consider all possible avenues and outcomes! And it seems likely to me that Misty - who has lost a lot over the past year and who's been too scared to come to us, who won't tell us about her sisters and who freely gave up her Pokemon to Nurse Joy as well as leaving us with a cryptic message and telling us not to find her or else - it seems likely to _me_ that she would look that way!"

"No, Brock, just. . . just _no_! Misty would never hurt herself, that's crazy! She's too strong, way too proud and stubborn, for that! I don't care what's wrong with her lately, I don't care about the league or her sisters or her Pokemon or how it all looks from here or there! Misty. Would. Not. Hurt. Herself. And I can prove it as long as we can get to Vermilion City ASAP!"

He did as suggested, turning on his heel and continuing the way they'd been planning to go before, his human and Pokemon companions following after him and hoping to all that they could think of that he was right in his assumptions. They didn't speak anymore about the subject, something Ash continued to block out of his head altogether even as the hours continued wearing on and on. He focused on barring it all from his mind, wishing it were simpler to do, even as the facts weighed against him.

He could feel Brock's eyes boring into him from behind but ignored that too

He couldn't see it, wouldn't even consider it. Therefore, it would not come to be.

The sun was just beginning to set as they breached the northern entrance to Vermilion City. Even from where they stood, they could already see the ships and ferries in the distance_, _standing on the glittering waters and waiting to move out. It had taken them over seven hours of near-constant running to reach their destination as fast as they had and somehow they were absolutely certain that they didn't have much time.

Ash offhandedly wondered if they should check the PokeCenter or the local motels before running off to the pier but shook it off. Chances were Misty wasn't looking for anymore witnesses to her disappearing act. If she vanished again, she'd probably do so more discreetly this time around. He wasn't going to give her more time to take advantage of that opportunity.

Pikachu, just a little bit faster than his trainer, leapt from Ash's shoulder for the first time in the past hour and ran ahead of them, further south and hanging a sharp left towards the boardwalk. Crowds of people began to filter before them all, dominating their collective lines of vision and keeping them from moving at their topmost speed.

Ash felt a great sense of urgency as he excused himself through what seemed to be the endless stream of people taking in the many shops and the small amusement park that existed on the Vermilion Pier. Brock, still slightly taller than him, and Pikachu, much smaller and able to scurry around everyone's feet, were milling their way through the crowds faster than he could and he gritted his teeth at the disadvantage.

A few minutes later, the three of them had made it through the entertainment end of the boardwalk. They finally stopped to catch their breath, wondering where to go next. All that stood before them were shipping crates and large cargo fleets. A few random sailors were walking by in uniform, preparing to go home for the day.

"Hey, ya guys need somethin' from 'round here?" an approaching man asked them, holding up some orange cones to place at the division of the two different halves of the pier. He laid the five of them down on the ground, wiping at his brow, before turning to face them again. "Business is about ta close down for the day. S'not much fun ta be had here anyways."

"Oh, uh, sorry. . . We're looking for a friend of ours. We thought she might have been lost."

"Well, chances are she ain't out this way. Girls love them stuffed animal prizes though. Maybe she's waitin' for one of yous guys ta go win her one."

As the sailor pointed them off in the opposite direction again, Ash, Brock, and Pikachu took in their surroundings. There were a few hundred freights stacked up along the docks as well as about eight ships lined up in a neat row on their left. And if they looked far enough down the pier, they could even see. . .

"Ash," Brock muttered, Pikachu's ears pricking up as he listened in too, "isn't that a payphone?"

Ash squinted, raising a hand to his brow to block the last vestiges of bright sunlight from his eyes.

"Yeah, it is."

That meant Misty must have made the phone-call to the Cerulean PokeCenter from there. The two of them were just beginning to wonder how they were going to sneak their way further down the business end of the docks when Pikachu beat them to it, going rogue and taking off on his own.

"Pika!" he called out at them, leaping around the sailor, who'd leaned down with outstretched arms, trying to stop him from getting past.

"Argh, hey, wait a minute!" the man tried, turning on his heel and holding up a fist in irritation.

"Oh no," Ash said with a clear hint of sarcasm to his tone, "my Pikachu seems to have run off. I guess that means we'll have to go get him back!" And he and Brock ran past the sailor too, who was not very keen on following the three of them after a long, hard day at work. "Sorry about this!"

"Just be careful, will ya?" the man claimed, staring after the three of them and wondering if he should chase them too. Thankfully they slowed their pace a bit as they decided to get a better grip of their surroundings. Slowly, suspiciously, he finally turned back to the task at hand and began to lay the hazard cones out along the length of the boardwalk.

Pikachu was on the payphone in moments, sniffing at it for anything familiar. And boy, did he find what he was looking for. Better yet, that very familiar scent (even after all this time) was still in the air, and he craned his neck to the left to get a good look at the very last extension of the pier, his sense of smell already telling him exactly what, or who, he'd find there.

"Pikapi!" he called again to his trainer, who was right behind him as he leaned back on his hind legs and used his front paws to gesture to the two young men. Ash and Brock came to a sudden stop before him and he pointed out towards the water again.

Ash turned with bated breath, nearly squinting his eyes shut for fear that he'd get a good look and she'd vanish before him again. But there she sat, wearing the same exact clothes they three of them had expected, her hair tied up on the side of her head, sitting with her legs dangling over the side of the docks, watching the sun set as if she didn't have a single care in the world.

But it was her.

"Misty. . ."

They'd found her.

"Ash, let's go," Brock confirmed with a hand on his shoulder to urge him forward.

It was definitely her.

So sure Ash was that he couldn't keep himself from shouting with all of his might, his throat dry and his heart and fists clenching up, his lungs rasping like crumpled paper bags but, true to the character he'd been supporting all day, he chose to ignore his own discomfort.

"MISTY!"

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- Oh, man, I finally finished this chapter! Thank goodness! Only one more to go, everyone! I can't wait! Hopefully it won't take as long to finish the next one since I basically wrote it all out in my notebook anyway. I just have to type it up and add some details. It should be fun!

All of that being said, I do want to make a quick apology. As you guys know, things happen that cause distractions (especially to me, of course) and it's hard to write on a regular basis. I had some slight writer's block, plus I've been working seventy hours a week, plus I just finished finals, plus - alright, I'll stop. I think you get the idea, yeah? I know this took awhile to post, but at least I can say I'm moderately proud of it.

Well, anyway, this chapter was supposed to be quite a bit shorter than it turned out. After much debate, I decided I'd post that spoiler for that Misty fic I told you all about last time since I did promise you. I hope that everyone likes it and can tell me what they think.

**If you are NOT interested in reading a spoiler to my AU Misty project **(mentioned in the notes from the previous chapter of this fic)**, please feel free to either scroll down and review now or else click the back button!**

**This scene is supposed to take place in the middle of Team Rocket's attack on the Viridian City PokeCenter. **You guys may remember some of this from the episode, _Pokemon Emergency_.

**O**o**O**

"You know, maybe we should throw some of these. . . Team Rocket keeps gaining and Officer Jenny may take awhile to get here. . ." Misty muttered to him. He nodded again and tossed one forward to the ground, causing it to open up and a Pidgey to appear.

"Quick Pidgey, use _gust_!" Ash ordered but before the Pokemon had the chance, it caught sight of Ekans and Koffing advancing on it and panicked, automatically fleeing back to the Pokeball of its own accord.

"Good going, wanna try that again?" Misty asked even as Team Rocket, finally catching up, entered the room behind their own Pokemon team.

"_Grr_, fine! Go Pokeball!" Ash responded, pitching a second one forward and watching it pop open again. This time a Rattata appeared but the same thing happened. It saw nothing but a giant snake in front of it and got scared.

"These Pokemon are still young. Their trainers haven't had them very long. . . You probably won't stand much of a chance with what you'll find in here." Nurse Joy explained to them in a whisper.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Ash responded in a yelp.

"Yeah, we can't beat them this way!" Misty continued to say, getting scared as well. And then she felt the anger bubble up within her because of it, _because_ she couldn't stand the thought of being so scared. But she'd never been in this situation before. . .

She had no idea what made her do it. Maybe it was the silence that followed her shout, or else the fact that nobody seemed to know what to do, or else it was those _clowns_ laughing at her in a way that clearly said they were looking down on her, but she finally lost her mind and stepped forward too.

"I guess I'll have to take this into my own hands! Grab Pikachu and get outta here! I mean, after all," she stopped short before turning to face Team Rocket again, "isn't it your main priority?"

"Well, yeah, but. . . you can't just expect me to-"

"-Pokeball, go!" Misty yelled over Ash, tossing her one and only Pokemon out into the fray. It was a rather useless and reckless response to the situation but, hey, Nurse Joy had told them to cause a distraction, right?

Her precious Goldeen appeared before her for everyone to see. Jessie and James' faces immediately paled at the hilarity and they began muttering about how pathetic an attempt it was for her to make.

"Hey, I can't really leave you here when-"

"-Kid, I said get out of here and save your Pikachu! Besides, we _both_ know that water-Pokemon aren't exactly adept at fighting land battles." she continued, as if in acceptance.

Something about her tone must have reached him for he accepted Pikachu back from Nurse Joy and took off around Team Rocket and back towards the lobby. They let him go without a fight. After all, as they'd said before, they weren't interested in his puny little Pokemon.

"Ekans, take that goldfish down with your _bite _attack!" Jessie commanded with a wave of her arm. As if she were dismissing Misty and her Pokemon.

This caused the redhead to glare in frustration and she couldn't help herself from saying what she said next.

"Goldeen, _horn attack_!"

Even though the fish Pokemon was flopping around and wishing to return to its Pokeball, it heard the call of its trainer and knew it had to obey. The horn on its head immediately began to glow and as Ekans slithered around, it flipped forward and dug the appendage into the snake's side. It continued to jab repeatedly as its opponent hissed in pain before finally backing off, even without Jessie's consent.

"What are you doing, Ekans? This isn't over!" But her Pokemon had already simpered around her and her partners and took off down the hall, apparently feeling it would have much better luck going after the unconscious rodent after all. Koffing exited too, perhaps to assist. This finally caused Jessie, James, and their Meowth to retreat, leaving Misty to return her Pokemon with much thanks.

"What should we do now?"

"I have a feeling we're not completely done here. Luckily the Pokeballs are nearly all transfered to Pewter City's PokeCenter so I think they'll be safe but. . ." Nurse Joy fell silent for a second as her Pikachu power source all stopped their rotation and quirked their heads to the side before running from the room as well. "Looks like we're all that's left. We should go check up on your friend!"

Oh, right, that Ash kid. . .

"Hey, wait a minute, I already said he's _not _my friend!"

Unfortunately as they sprinted back to the lobby area, there came the sound of another explosion and dust and dirt and debris flew at them from everywhere as the building shook from the instability.

"What's happening?" Misty screamed, her voice trembling. She covered her head just in case but there seemed to be no point. Walls began crumbling and the foundation ricocheted from the ferocity of. . . whatever it was that had just happened without her.

Suddenly the entire roof was blown clean off by a crackling bout of electricity, so much so that there was nothing left for her to be worried about, nothing left to fall on her or hit her at all. Misty was almost sure she could see the sun starting to shine from beyond the smoke.

She slowly inched forward until she and Nurse Joy could grab the frame of the archway leading to the front of the PokeCenter. They dared a peek at what was left and their eyes fell on Ash and the dozen plus one Pikachu standing there alone, her bike mysteriously perched upside down beside them all. And as they stared, Ash collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, the impression of everything that had just taken place finally catching up with him.

He sighed in relief as Pikachu leapt into his lap, fully recovered and excited to see its trainer. He couldn't help laughing in response as he patted his Pokemon on the head. Misty was pretty sure it was similar to how she was feeling now that Team Rocket had disappeared.

What a relief to know that they had all made it through the night.

An hour or so later, Officer Jenny came rushing through what should have been a set of front doors, which had been completely obliterated and left with nothing but rubble, glass shards, and a couple feet of the walls around them.

"Nurse Joy, I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner, I was dealing with a few other calls across town. Please expain what happened!" Jenny stated authoritavely as she bowed in respect and forgiveness. Joy, simply happy that the Pokemon were indeed safely transferred, calmed the woman down and reassured her that, despite the state of her PokeCenter, everything was fine thanks to the two kids sleeping where they sat, in chairs on the left hand side of the lobby.

Ash and Misty were approached as well, asked to explain their sides and hands in dealing with what had happened and also to give descriptions of Jessie and James so that they could be faxed out to Jenny's other relatives across the region.

After a wholesome breakfast and a few words of thanks from Jenny, they were ready to go.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, uh. . . What was your name again?" Ash asked sheepishly with a laugh and one foot out the door.

"It's Misty. . ." she replied, brow twitching in frustration. "And don't even _think _about it, Mr. Pokemon Master!" She threw an arm out and yanked him back by his collar, only letting him go when she was sure he wouldn't attempt escape again. "Don't think I've forgotten about my bike! I want you to pay up right now! No more excuses about your Pokemon or your journey or your financial situa-"

"-I already told you that I'm just starting out and I can't afford that kind of thing right now!"

"See? That. That's what I didn't wanna hear anymore! If you can't pay me now then I'll just keep following you around until you do!"

"Wah! You can't be serious!"

"Since you _seriously _trashed my bike and then you _seriously _tried to get out of paying for it, yeah, I hafta be _serious _too!" she claimed while poking him in the chest at every enunciated syllable. "Or else I could trash something important of yours and then we'll be even?"

"Fine! Just not my hat!"

"I'm not interested in your dinky hat!"

"That's only 'cause you don't know what it's worth!"

"Do you _want _me to destroy your hat?"

"I just said no, so-"

"-Then stop trying to tell me how much it's worth!"

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just wanted to thank you one more time for everything you did last night before you left." Nurse Joy smiled and bowed to them before standing tall again. "Also, I've been meaning to ask you something, young lady."

"Uh, me? What is it?" the redhead replied, perturbed at the request.

"I thought I heard it earlier but I can't be sure. Could you tell me your name again?"

"My name? My name's Misty."

"I thought so. I only ask because I received a call a couple days ago from a girl who might be a relative of yours. She said she was calling all the Centers in the region to ask about her youngest sibling named Misty who'd run away from home. And she wanted to ask you something. . . Ah, what was it. . . ? Oh yes! She said she and your other sisters wanted to know if you were ready to give up yet and go back home. Though I'm not quite sure what she meant by it."

Misty seemed to blank out for a few seconds. Perhaps she didn't know what the message meant either. But as Ash and Joy stared her down, waiting for a response, they were sure that a fire had been stirred up in her spirit.

"Oh. Is that all? That's nothing. They're just joking around. They knew I'd be around this way and lied about contacting all the other Centers. They only wanted you to tell me that as a joke. You know, like haha-funny? A joke."

"You already said that, the joke thing, I mean." Ash reminded her, but she snuffed him out with a quick glare.

"A joke. Just a joke." she repeated, and he was pretty sure at this point that she was doing so to convince herself, not them.

"Anyway, it was no problem helping to defend the Pokemon against those thieves last night, I'm sure." Misty replied with an immediately sunny smile. Then she continued, "I'm sorry to ask this, but could I borrow a pen real quick? Oh, and a piece of paper too."

"What are you. . ." Ash began but was cut off by the expression on her face.

"Oh sure, one moment. . ." And it truly was only one moment before Joy returned with what she'd been asked to receive and Misty accepted the two items into her hands. Then she stuck the pen between her lips and folded the piece of paper in half before tearing it in two and beginning to write on one of the pieces.

"Here," she said without proper explanation, shoving both pieces of paper and the pen at Ash, who stared dumbfoundedly at it until she sighed exasperatedly and decided to use more words. "One half has my name and address on it, as well as the cost of the bike. If you happen to earn enough money to pay me back, you can mail the total amount to that house number under my name."

"O-kay. . ." the raven-haired boy replied, apparently still confused. "So what's the _other _piece for?"

"That's for you to give me _your _full name and address. Nurse Joy here will witness it because if I decide it's been too long and go looking for you there and you've lied to me about where you're from, I will personally see to it that you're hunted down so I can beat you up and press charges for destruction of property."

"Uh, shouldn't I be able to press charges too if _you're _going to beat _me_-"

"-Claiming justifiable response." Misty replied shortly and didn't say anything else, pushing everything into Ash's arms and watching him quickly scribble down what had better have been the correct house number in Pallet Town, probably fearful for his personal safety. Joy stood behind her, a soft frown hanging on her lips but clearly unable to intervene seeing as nothing violent or uncalled for was happening at the moment.

**O**o**O**

And that's the end of that! I couldn't figure out which scene I wanted to place here so I just took two that I'd been considering and made it one long one. I hope it was worth the read! All comments would be much appreciated!


	5. five

**Disclaimer **- Everything you're about to read belongs to someone else. You know, except for the total compilation of ideas. That would be mine. Yup yup.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay guys, this is a weird one. I think it definitely qualifies for the _fantasy_ genre I picked for it. Plus it's almost sickeningly romantic. Ugh, I hope I come out of this one unscathed. Even if you don't understand something or don't like or appreciate it, I hope you'll stick it out til the end and also - maybe, just _maybe_ - give me a review and tell me what you thought.

So, without further ado. . .

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Title **- "Undine's Thread" / part five

**O**o**O**o**O**

_They'd found her._

_It was definitely her._

_"Misty!" _

Ash shouted with all of his might, unable to help himself even if Brock and Pikachu had to wonder about drawing any unnecessary attention to their group. They ran forward onto the pier just in time for the redhead they'd been searching so desperately for over the past couple of days to turn, eyes wide and mouth agape, as she twisted on her heels and waist and faced them finally for the first time in far, _far _too long.

And then she said something Ash had never expected - though he probably should have.

"Stay away from here!"

Ash felt his trainers grind into the wood of the pier as he forced himself to an immediate stop. He felt Pikachu run into the back of his leg and cry out and then Brock's fellow stomping falter short just behind him. Despite being compelled by his best friend's tone of voice not to move any closer, he couldn't help further examining the situation.

The sun had begun to set a little further to their right, the water below them glowing an ethereal hue while the feathery clouds above were perfectly scattered throughout the skies. However, as magical as it all was, it didn't seem to draw Ash's eye any further into it. No, he was far too confused, curious, frustrated, captivated by the sight of _her_.

And yes, she looked the same as she had the last time he'd seen her, and not only this morning on the phone, but the last time in person as well. Short red hair tied up on the lefthand side, bright aqua-coloured eyes, the same combination of colours she'd always worn in her clothes - red, blue, and yellow - but. . . that was it for the most part. He couldn't see anything that would cause her to force him to keep his distance.

Ash, who'd finally taken the moment of standing still as a chance to catch his breath and who knew that Brock and Pikachu would be doing the same, attempted a small pace forward, hoping he wouldn't be noticed. Unfortunately, Misty's gaze darkened as she eyed him trying to get closer to where she stood and she held up her arms in defense, her eyes clenched shut.

"Ash, I said no. I told you to stay where you are! I also remember," and she drew an unnecessarily long, shaky breath, as if she couldn't help herself, "telling you to go back home and not keep looking for me at all! I see you still haven't learned to listen to anything anybody says, no matter how much good it would do you." A few more shuddering breaths and she finally seemed to contain herself better.

"Ash," Brock muttered so that she wouldn't hear him, but he dared not continue speaking and only nodded his head at the girl. Finally, after staring for a few more seconds, Ash realized what he was supposed to be seeing.

She looked oddly pale, even for her, though her cheeks were flushed nearly as red as the color of her undershirt. And, same as when they'd spoken to her on the phone, she could barely form half a sentence without needing to gasp for air in between syllables.

"Misty, what's wrong? Are you sick or something?" Brock asked, unable to help his worry after being the surrogate parent of at least fifteen children in his youth, including her at some point.

"Sick? I wish. . ." she whispered, Pikachu's ears pricking up as he heard her, though he was the only one with such luck, "No, that would be too simple. Look, I told you guys to stay away, okay? Why couldn't you just listen?" she exhaled the last word, as if it took great strength to get it out of her. "Just once, I needed you guys to do what I said and - stop walking over here!"

"Where are your sisters?" Ash asked as if to distract her. It worked, she jumped a bit, then blinked bemusedly at him as though she were wondering what she could afford to tell him at this point. She had to say _something _after all. There was nowhere else for her to run away to. "Why did you come to Vermilion of all places? And why. . . how could you leave your Pokemon back in Cerulean?"

"You have to understand how this looks to us, Misty! More than any of that other stuff, you didn't even contact us! You couldn't even tell us yourself what was happening to your family!" Brock shouted angrily, finally letting loose everything he'd been holding in for the sake of their investigation, "Of course we'd look for you! We told you years ago that we're best friends! We wouldn't turn our backs on you or ignore you in your time of need! And you knew that, didn't you?" Finally quieting down, he concluded, "Isn't that why you decided you couldn't tell us anything from the beginning? Because you knew we cared?"

Things were quiet for a few seconds as she drew haggard breath. Ash wondered why that was, considering by now, he, Brock, and Pikachu had long since caught up and were inhaling normally again. Odd as it seemed, it also reminded him of _something_, though he couldn't remember what it was. . . In the end, he couldn't bring himself to ask anything about it.

Finally, Misty looked up with a melancholy smile.

"You were always too smart, Brock. Though, if this were a riddle, I'd have kicked your butt," she gave a sharp laugh at her attempt at a joke but stopped short and stared the three of them down again. "No, you're just too perceptive for me to be able to keep things from you. You're right. I ran away on my own because I knew you'd both come looking and I didn't want to take the risk of you finding me too soon.

"I did this to you guys." she finished after another deep breath.

"Why?" Ash gulped back enough fear to ask, "And why won't you answer our other questions?"

"I thought I couldn't afford to give you answers, and also that you'd stop asking if I pretended not to know. . . but since you won't, I guess I'll tell you." She stared at him pensively, "My sisters are gone, Ash."

_Gone_.

_Gone?_

"What do you mean?" Brock asked as a chill descended his spine and back up again at the inclination.

"Crinaeae, Limnades, and Potameides could not maintain their human forms so they shed their fake skins and returned to their original purposes around the world." The three of them, including Pikachu, couldn't help noticing Misty's sudden change in demeanor. Her back was suddenly straighter, it seemed as if she'd grown a couple of inches, while her tone was distant and detached.

"Wha. . . Who are you talking about, Misty? Won't you just honestly answer the question? I thought you said that was what you were going to do!" Ash yelped at her with an immature stomp of his foot.

"I did, Ash Ketchum, if you'd dare to pay attention and listen further. Crinaeae, or Daisy, is a guardian of fountain waters. Because of that, she is the closest of my sisters to have associated with people over the generations. Limnades, Lily of the lakes, goes mostly unnoticed by people, though she's also close enough to keep an eye on them if need be. Finally, Potameides Violet of running rivers has always had a mischievous side, misdirecting trainers with her flow. My sisters and I aren't related like you are with _your _familes. We're sisters of the blue depth," the redhead finally finished proudly, her chin straight and head high.

But all her explanation did was confuse the rest of them even more.

"Pika," the electric mouse whined, shaking his head rapidly as if trying to forget everything he couldn't fathom.

"I'm not going to pretend to grasp what you're saying, Misty. In fact, I'm really starting to think you _are _sick. Something's wrong with you if you think it's okay to spout weird stories like this. If you don't want to tell us where your sisters are then explain why you came here to Vermilion of all places. What are you going to do now that you're no longer the Cerulean Gym trainer? And how can you sound so calm and rational even when you're talking about this stuff that none of us could ever hope to understand?" Brock asked all in one breath, glancing at Ash out of the corner of his eye, wondering why the raven-haired trainer had gone so silent and still.

"I came here because I had no choice. My skin was also drawn to the nearest and largest body of water around the region. Cerulean is nothing but the cape and steep cliffs overlooking enclosed beaches. I wouldn't be able to return home from there, even if I were reduced to my mere essence. And, just like my sisters, I also _have _to go home."

"Misty, stop being so stubborn about this!" Ash suddenly shouted, as if he had room to talk considering everything he'd pulled since leaving Pallet Town. The redhead jumped but otherwise remained unaffected. "Cerulean's your home, in case you've somehow forgotten! Just because the League decided you couldn't be the gym leader doesn't mean you have to leave altogether! Everyone's been so worried about you! Marina, Nurse Joy, my mom, Tracey, Brock, Pikachu, me! May, Max, Dawn; they all called because they wanted to know if there was anything they could do to help! Can you really abandon everyone's hopes and fears for you just because you don't want to accept that you can't run the Cerulean Gym anymore? That's the worst decision you could ever make!"

"And how would you know anything about me, Mr. Pokemon Master?" Misty heaved back at him. The affectionate notation of his old nickname was outweighed by her obvious rage. "For one year, I waited for you to ask me to come back and travel with you! For the next, I waited for phone-calls and letters! After that, I admit it, I did give up! I gave up on _you_! All you deem to do is cause me grief! Why can't you do anything else for me, Ash? You're right, I'm stupid, but I'm not doing this because I want to! I'm doing this because I have no choice!

"You want to know _how _I can speak the way I am? Because I can give you some semblance of the truth before I go! And better yet, it's a lot easier to distract you when you're too busy trying to figure out what I'm saying! You don't even realize that this conversation is already over!"

"What do you mean by-" but Brock's question was cut short by the shock of Misty taking one final step backwards and disappearing off the edge of the pier. There was a splash as she hit the water and then nothing else.

"Pikachupi!"

"Misty!"

Ash's vision darkened and his hearing shorted out due to the upset that was his best friend effectively vanishing from his line of sight. As she'd said, they hadn't noticed that she'd been slowly moving towards the water even as they tried to coax her away from it. They'd been too busy listening to her excuses as to why she'd run from them all this time. And for what? What had they really learned after all that? Misty had only told them some silly fairytale and now they had nothing.

Nothing.

_Gone._

_My sisters are gone._

Would she be gone next?

"NO!" Mind boggling, numbing guilt chewed at his heels as Ash threw off his backpack and hat, finally running to the edge of the pier and past Brock and Pikachu, who were staring at the water below, still trying to find her. He didn't really know why he was guilty, but her words had hit him square in the face and slapped him around enough to make him realize how serious everything was for her.

After all of the panic and worry he'd felt over the past three days, after the morbid clues he'd had to find and the wasted searching in her hometown, to come so close and end it like this. . . He couldn't believe Brock might have been right all along.

_"Misty might be planning to do something else too."_

_"To herself. To permanently solve the problems she's been experiencing."_

_"Suicide, Ash."_

He dived into the bay without thinking, soon regretting it when he noticed that he wouldn't be able to last for very long without going back up for air. Still, he'd use every second he could to scour the waters for his best friend, twisting against the currents, left and right, blinking away the burning in his eyes due to the salt.

His heart began to pound even louder against his ribcage than it had been before, the panic gnawing away at his heart but still being overtaken by the lack of oxygen causing a pulsing between his brain and skull.

But - no. . . no way.

Even if she'd somehow forced her body still so it didn't fight against drowning, there was absolutely _no way _it could have vanished that quickly. No way.

"Ash!" he thought he heard Brock shout from above.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked with frustration but he held in his electrical power, knowing it wouldn't do anything to help his trainer.

"Pikapi. . ." the Pokemon whimpered in fear, squinting his eyes shut and then opening them again. But the further he tried to peek, the bleaker the water looked. He couldn't even see his trainer's head anymore. "Pikapi!" he squealed in fright.

Ash still couldn't understand. How could she simply vanish entirely after only thirty or so seconds? Wasn't that impossible? Even for a water enthusiast like Misty, as strong a swimmer as she was, there was no way she could do much of anything in that amount of time. . .

His vision was starting to grow cloudy and he knew it wasn't the dark depth of the water this time. Then a voice called out to him just in time to clear his head and stop him from making his next move.

"Ash Ketchum, you idiot, what do you think you're doing?"

He was so relieved to hear her voice that he breathed in, a huge mistake as water filled his lungs. He attempted to hack it back up but of course it was useless when he was still underwater. There was a strange tingling sensation as something encircled his middle and tugged him forcefully upwards, towards the surface of the Vermilion Bay.

Just in time, his head emerged from the oceanic blue and he breathed as deeply as he could, incredibly grateful for the air that met his nostrils and throat even as he continued to cough up all the water that had been bleeding into his lungs before.

"Ash!" Brock shouted in relief and glee, holding out an arm to help him up onto the pier again. Pikachu leapt up too in excitement and the raven-haired trainer turned around in an attempt to wade his way through the bay until he found the source of that voice again.

He furrowed his brow, unable to see her. Dammit. Then he looked up hopelessly to Brock and Pikachu and sighed, knowing he'd probably given them more than a fright and knowing that he should at least make sure they knew he was safe before trying that again.

But still, without Misty. . .

As he held up an arm to accept the assistance needed to get back on land, he craned his neck and took one last look around him, then yelped when he spotted the strange spectacle to his right.

Brock yanked him back onto the pier but as soon as he hit the ground again he turned and looked back over the edge, staring at the strange vision that sat there above the water.

"Ash, are you ok-"

"-Misty!"

"Pikachupi?"

"What are you talking about, Ash?" Brock sighed, exasperated as well as fearful for the younger trainer's sanity. Then he, too, looked over the side and blinked repeatedly as he took in the sight of what could have been their best friend before. . . except for the pale yellow skin and the sun-coloured hair that flowed long into the water and vanished into nothing.

Of course, it wasn't just her hair that vanished, it was the rest of her body too. Anything below the surface of the water was completely invisible to them now.

Her eyes were a sharp, squinting black and her nose had gone as well.

But it was still Misty, strangely enough, and even Brock was curious as to how it could have been such an obvious deduction.

"Wah!" Ash yelped, unable to help himself, flying backwards from the pier and clamping his eyes tightly shut, placing his palms to them and rubbing them furiously to try and clear his vision because - quite clearly - he must have been imagining things.

"Do you see now, Ash Ketchum? _This _is why you guys weren't supposed to find me!" she admonished them in the same voice they'd always known, though her expression seemed somewhat hurt by his reaction to her change in appearance, no matter how much she'd expected it.

"Pikachupi, pika pi chu chu pipi pikachu!"

"Misty, what the heck is going on here?" Brock begged of her.

Ash, after a deep gulp of air and a few more seconds of staring, leaned forward again as his deepest fears took over.

"Yeah, what happened to you? A - are you. . . You're not d - dead, are you?" He could barely grasp the concept or existence of the word, but felt compelled to ask the question anyway.

Misty rolled her eyes but otherwise, her expression remained the same, that strange pang of hurt invading her familiar gaze.

"Of course not! I'm not stupid enough to kill myself over something like this!"

It was enough for him, and he turned his glare on Brock next, who, along with Pikachu, had the decency to look embarrassed at the presumption they'd made before reaching Vermilion City. After a few seconds, however, they discerned that there was still a lot more going on now that they had to deal with.

"Well, whatever's happening, Misty, you can explain it all to us up here," and Brock extended his arm again, "now come on." But she didn't take it.

"Misty, what's wrong?" Ash asked in place of their older friend, his brow furrowed.

"Now that I'm here. . . I can't leave," she sighed as she choked out the last word of her statement but refused to look at them anymore. Perhaps she worried that they'd blame her, or else accuse her of thinking up silly, crazy stories again. If only that were the case. . . The last thing she needed was for them to be even _more _curious.

"What do you mean by that?"

She couldn't help a characteristic roll of the eyes.

_Of course_.

"I was originally tied to the water and now that I'm here - not that there was any way to avoid it for much longer anyway - I'm tied to it again." She waited for them to unanimously comprehend what she was saying but apparently she still wasn't being clear enough for them.

"I'm a part of it. That's why you can't see anything below my neck. Because I'm a water nymph."

Still, they stared blankly at her, waiting to be filled in. Part of her wondered why she'd bothered running away from them at all. They'd still managed to chase her down and pry open her heart, still managed to force her to tell them everything she'd been told by her sisters and her conscience to hide ever since the first time she marched into Cerulean City to take over the gym.

"I'm an undine. I can never walk on the land again."

She wasn't sure what she expected. Maybe more denial on her friends' part or a unanimous outburst of rage or else maybe even just someone breaking out into a fit of panic over something that they still couldn't understand. Instead, there was a serene sense of quiet and a hushed question.

"Why not?" Ash licked at his chapped lips, his throat suddenly clenched and sore as the words urged themselves out of his mouth, "I mean, you were able to before. . ."

"Because when a mythical creature forms a contractual union, they gain whatever humanity deems necessary to carry it out, including their own soul. They're the same as any other person. But if they _lose _that. . ."

"So - you mean - the _gym_. . ." Brock noted with a stutter.

Misty sighed, glad that they were finally getting it but sad at the same time that it had come to this after all. If she could only have avoided the few of them for a little while longer, she could have escaped without anymore fear or pain. Alas, it was impossible not to be hurt at this point.

If only those idiots knew how lucky they were.

"Right. Ancestry states that my sisters and I had a birthright to that property so we donned legs to keep it that way. My sisters never cared much for the duty though. They would rather while away their time in the water, or else beg me more than a dozen times to return home. In response, I decided to run away from them so that they couldn't force my hand in the annulment. . . After I'd been away for a few months, I found even more of a reason to stay though."

She looked to Ash.

Feeling uncomfortably hot, he attempted to ignore that perplexed stare by moving the conversation along.

"Uh, are you sure you're not just going through something? I mean, you did lose the rights to the Cerulean Gym yesterday, and we all know you love that place. . ."

"Ash," Brock started with a sharp intake of air, "usually I'd agree with you on this, but just _look _ at the floating head for a second."

"But how?" Ash ignored his older friend, "I mean, since when have you. . . been. . . like this?" He couldn't help waving his arms down at her as if to envelop all of the strangeness that was her transformation. Pikachu cooed his name from atop Brock's shoulder, knowing his trainer was behaving a little insensitively yet also far too shocked himself to react any other way.

"Since always."

"B - but we've gone swimming before! Loads of times!" he pointed out next, blinking rapidly as though it would cause this terrible dream to fade away and the lack of which to snap him into waking once more. And maybe in that world he hoped for, he wouldn't be forced to look at his unfortunately _mutated _friend and say goodbye. . .

But nothing seemed to be changing before him.

This was real.

_How could this possibly be real?_

"I was considered human at the time thanks to the contract with Indigo League. I didn't even first walk into Cerulean City until I was eight years old but the identity of Misty Waterflower was so full-proof that half the town already knew my name. It goes both ways, though. Within the next twenty-four hours, everyone who's ever heard of me or the Sensational Sisters will have forgotten everything about us down to our names. Even our Pokemon will be returned to the Cerulean Gym and their memories of being caught by my sisters and I will be replaced with those of Marina. The same goes for her, of course."

_This. . . this is crazy! It can't be real after all!_

It was what she'd been leading up to all along. No wonder she'd run enough to think she'd be just too far out of their reach. No wonder she'd suddenly decided she didn't really mind telling them everything they'd been wanting to know. No wonder she'd put on such a show of pride and goodbye and surprise.

Only Ash still couldn't understand what was happening. And not only him, but Brock and Pikachu as well. It seemed that they'd finally given her the benefit of the doubt as far as her silly, crazy stories were concerned. They believed that she was telling the truth about her origins; they may have even believed her about her sisters, that they'd simply returned to their original homes. . .

But that didn't mean that they were prepared to part with her yet, even now.

_Twenty-four hours._

_Within that slight gateway of time. . ._

_Everyone who's ever heard of me will have forgotten._

"Everyone. . ."

_Everyone. . . including him?_

"Everyone. . ." Ash muttered before shaking himself out of it, "I wouldn't! I'd never forget you! Neither would Brock or Pikachu or any of our other friends! Don't give us such little credit, Misty!"

"That's right!" Brock stepped up beside him with his jaw set in denial.

"Pikachu!" the electric mouse exclaimed from Brock's shoulder, nodding his head as well.

"You don't get it! There's no choice in this but to accept it! Without a contract to sustain my presense, I can't maintain a human form for more than a few days, which is why I couldn't stay back in Cerulean. I could barely contain my breath long enough to finish signing over the paperwork and the property to Marina. I'm - inherently - a fish, I can't breathe oxygen and I can't walk or sleep or eat your food. . . Nothing!"

It was this statement that caused Ash to realize what Misty had reminded him of earlier when she'd been noticeably gasping for breath. She was a fish out of water, somehow still upright thanks to being bipedal but nonetheless, it hadn't been about not getting enough air, it had been about getting the wrong kind of air.

"What about your sisters? Maybe they didn't care for the gym but that doesn't mean they want this to happen either!" Ash's argumentative nature finally took over, tired of hearing his best friend shoot down all their hopes for a different outcome.

"They've all taken back their original names, I told you! Though we're not related the same as you, sure, they probably wanted the best for me too. But that doesn't mean that they could have come up with anything in the short amount of time they had left. Nobody has ever been able to change what is meant to happen, Ash! You should know that better than anyone after all these years!"

Stunningly silent, the raven-haired trainer held his ground even as the words brought to light a memory he hardly thought about anymore, despite knowing that she probably hadn't meant it that way anyway. She'd probably been talking about his heroic expectations. . . He never knew _those _words would mean so much to anything other than his own conscience though. To be honest, he had only meant to appease his own concerns, as well as maybe Misty's temper, at the time he'd dared to say _that_.

_Fate._

_"I don't think it's coincidence."_

_Destiny._

_"It can't be just coincidence that. . ."_

_Whatever._

_". . . I met _you _of all people!"_

_Meant to happen._

_"We were meant to meet and become best friends!"_

Something inside him cracked even more, deep down. The thing he'd been holding at bay during his two day search for his best friend, the thing he'd been ignoring for the past five years or so, the thing he'd been pretending meant nothing, didn't exist. Even though at the same time he knew he'd have to confront it at some point, he knew it was real and raw and impossible to forget no matter how long it was repressed.

_Crack._

That weird feeling, the fluttering, the aggravation and fear and anger and sadness and elation and power that this girl held over him. The reason he could _never _say goodbye to her, no matter how many times she tried to stress that it was going to happen with or without his blessing.

_Crack._

Dammit.

There was no more hiding it and no more denial. Suddenly Brock's words made sense to him.

_"Take a step back and examine your behavior."_

_"Because she's my best friend."_

_Crack._

_"Because I care."_

_Falling debris where a brick wall had been built._

_"I don't understand the curiosity, Brock."_

_The final pieces. . ._

_"Does there have to be any more of a reason?"_

_. . . crumbled away._

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **– Alright, alright, I already know what you're going to say. . . I definitely, absolutely planned to finish this stupid thing both much sooner than this, and also with this chapter. . . However neither thing happened. In the end, I wasn't the happiest with where this chapter went, or how it went, so I cut it into two parts – unfortunately – to give myself more time to work on it.

In truth, I've already written _everything _except for the last line (which I've had immense trouble coming up with), I've gone over the whole thing repeatedly in my head (to no avail, I can't seem to figure out what I'm lacking here, or else what I'm pushing too hard with), and I still can't seem to fit everything together neatly. I'm worried this climax will confuse or disappoint some readers. I hope that nobody hoped too much for more since I'd never planned on it. Yes, Misty has now been revealed and the truth has come out and it's weird and strange and different. . . but I never planned to continue on with it, or else explain it away more than this. I'm sorry if you expected anything more.

I will keep trying to piece that elusive last line together, and otherwise the final chapter is done, thank goodness. That being said, all reviews would be appreciated (though nobody does that anymore). I thank everyone for lasting this long and reading this fic, despite its faults, all the way through.

Until next time!


	6. six

**Disclaimer **- Everything you're about to read belongs to someone else. You know, except for the total compilation of ideas. That would be mine. Yup yup.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay guys, this is a weird one. I think it definitely qualifies for the _fantasy_ genre I picked for it. Plus it's almost sickeningly romantic. Ugh, I hope I come out of this one unscathed. Even if you don't understand something or don't like or appreciate it, I hope you'll stick it out til the end and also - maybe, just _maybe_ - give me a review and tell me what you thought.

So, without further ado. . .

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Title **- "Undine's Thread" / part six

**O**o**O**o**O**

Fate_._

_"I don't think it's coincidence."_

Destiny_._

_"It can't be just coincidence that. . ."_

Whatever_._

_". . . I met _you _of all people!"_

Meant to happen.

_"We were meant to meet and become best friends!"_

The final pieces of the wall leading to Ash's emotional depth. . .

_"Does there have to be any more of a reason?"_

. . . finally, doubtlessly crumbled away.

No, there didn't have to be anymore of a reason for his concern. . . but there _was_.

"Unless there's a speculative vow in preparation, there's nothing that can change what's happening. And we're not allowed to make contact with humans. Pokemon are barely aware of our existence. They're in tune with the elements, yeah, but we _are _the elements. Even this form is procured for the sake of humankind's peace of mind.

"My sisters are gone, like I said. . . and now it's my turn." Misty picked up where she'd left off before, unaware of the internal struggle that Ash was going through now that he _comprehended _how he felt. Fearing his silence to mean that he'd finally given up as well, she pushed onward, "All I have to do is state my original name and it'll be over in a flash." There was a slight waver in her voice as she stared up at them from the water, though she never dared to look away.

"Maybe I'm grateful for this after all. Maybe it's the reason I didn't run as far as I should have. I just couldn't go without saying goodbye first."

"There's gotta be something we can do, Misty! There are plenty of contracts or purposes in the world; you just have to find one for yourself! If you'd told us earlier," Brock finally interrupted again, "if we could only have a little more time, I'm sure we could do something. . . We could look for one together! I mean, we didn't come this far just so we'd have to forget you! And you can't tell us that you wouldn't miss us!"

"It's stupid to assume that," she told him shortly with a biting tone.

"Then why-"

As if she needed to feel anymore alienated from them anymore! But they just wanted to keep dragging their time on, as if it would strip them of the end.

"-Because my kind doesn't work like that, okay? I'm _not _human! Of course I'll miss you! I wish the spell would work on me too, that way I wouldn't have to live with the pain of remembering you guys, of thinking of you everyday, wondering if you're okay and knowing that, even if you are, you won't even be able to think to call me and let me know."

So, yes, of _course _they were lucky. They could so easily forget her and move on with their merry lives while she spent the rest of hers thinking back and reflecting and regretting and wondering.

"Misty. . ." her two human friends murmured while Pikachu affectionately did the same with his version of her name.

"Stop delaying the inevitable. It's time to say goodbye."

And they knew it was definitely, finally time as the streetlights along the edge of the pier flickered into life just in time for the sun to finish setting behind the distant edges of the water. The darkness played eerie tricks on their eyes, most of all Misty's, which were illuminated gold thanks to the distant flickering lights.

And Ash couldn't stop the faint buzzing in his ears. His hands itched to grab something, to hold her, the words he'd grown to know over the past few minutes telling him that they needed to be said before he lost his chance. But he also knew there was nothing for him to grasp, nothing to convince him that there _was _still a chance. This was too soon, too sudden, too much, too late.

He couldn't be late this time. He couldn't lose.

All except her head vanished below the tide. They heard her voice clearly as it shouted the last word they'd ever hear from her.

_Her original name._

"Ondi-"

Ash didn't know the word she planned to speak but he knew that was it. This couldn't happen to him!

"-Don't you dare, Misty!" He was now more sure than ever that it couldn't end.

He leapt forward and jumped into the water again, leaving Brock and Pikachu to watch him go alone a second time.

"No, wait, Ash!" the future breeder wailed, falling to his knees and leaning over the edge of the pier once more, an arm out to grab the younger trainer but hesitantly holding back. This would be considered their last ditch effort in turning everything around. . . He just hoped the boy had a plan for once.

"You know, I'm really tired of saving you from your deathwish. . ." Misty's voice began once more, clear as a bell chiming, though she was still quite invisible to Ash underwater despite his surroundings growing a little warmer due to her presense.

"_You_? Saving _me_?" he glubbed and blubbered. Somehow she must have understood him just fine because she responded.

"Of course. It wasn't meant to be noticed. When we were shipwrecked with Jessie and James and Magikarp evolved into Gyarados and wanted to eat us whole? When we were on Shamuti and you fell off Lugia and nearly drowned? How about a little while ago when you first stupidly leapt off the boardwalk and I raised the tide so that you could climb back up on land? Who else do you know that's lucky enough to escape death so many times without some other powers-that-be helping out? I didn't have access to all of my abilities but I've _always _been able to manipulate the tide."

He let the explanation for all of his aquatic adventures ending in nearly full health and survival float around his head. He'd never thought of any of that before. . . Somehow, the knowledge seemed useful.

"Anyway, that's not the point. I told you it was goodbye, Ash. Don't make me keep saying it."

There was a strange, invisible push on his back - the same as the last time he'd followed her into the water - and he knew it was her again, even as the now familiar tingling took over. He felt himself being shoved towards the surface once more.

"Now go."

His head slipped above the waves and he took the opportunity to catch his breath once more before diving back down again, ignoring Brock and Pikachu's cries for his attention.

"No!" he blubbered again when he was sure he was deep enough to be heard. He still wondered how it was possible when he couldn't even understand his own sorry excuse for words but decided to pocket the mystery until a later date. "I won't! I can't leave you now b - because. . ." he faltered, embarrassed as he tried to think of a valid response.

Again, all that she'd told him a few moments before mulled around his mind.

". . . Because I owe _you _now!"

"_Owe _me?" the voice echoed into his ears despite the waterlogged effect he should have been suffering from. But he still heard her, and she still spoke as though they weren't even remotely in this situation.

"Y - yeah," Ash coughed, expelling even more of that important oxygen he'd been holding on reserve, " of course. I mean, we can use that, can't we? If I'm indebted to you, then. . . if you've really saved my life so many times. . ."

"Oh. . . Is that right?"

"Uh. . . yeah. . ." Ash couldn't help the anxiety he felt at the fact that his best friend's voice seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "A - and so, if you need a contract then I'll give you my best shot! If you need a vow, then why not make it so that you'll stay by my side forever?"

The jumbled mess of bubbles that should have been words expelled from his mouth without him realizing or thinking them through. Then again, it wasn't like he really had the time to do such things. A few more seconds and she'd be gone forever, no matter how much he fought against it.

What was worse than the fear of not knowing what he, himself, meant by what he'd said was the god-awful silence he had to suffer through afterwards. More than anything else, he just wished Misty would say something. He even wondered for a split second if she'd gone away despite his fighting her on it. . . but the fact that he remembered who she was must have meant she was still there contemplating his decision, right?

"Forever, you say? That's a long time, Ash. . ." she sighed after having thought it over, and he could hear the exasperation in her tone, "You can't possibly need a friend like me for _that _long. . ."

"Then not as friends!" he attempted next, though after considering what he now knew about himself, how he felt, he couldn't help the unfortunate flush that blossomed on his cheeks and the back of his neck as he made the insinuation, "I - I mean, who knows when I'll almost drown again and need saving?"

Though he suppressed a bitter chuckle, wondering if that time would come sooner rather than later. The vision at the corners of his eyes was already beginning to darken and he was pretty sure the only reason he was still conscious was because Misty had done something to the small area of water around him. And then he couldn't help the slight laugh that escaped him because, half-an-hour ago (or else any _other _time over the course of the past five-plus years), he would have thought it crazy that she could do any such thing to the water at all.

"If not as friends, then what would you suggest?" There it was again, the voice that came from everywhere and nowhere, eerily finding its way to his ears without the slightest distress or effort.

"I. . . I don't know, as family maybe?" But he knew that wasn't right, felt completely wrong after what he'd figured out awhile ago. Those words still planned to make their escape from his heart, but he was fighting them all the way.

There was another moment of hollow silence. Ash hoped he could hold his breath long enough to hear Misty's reply.

"Well. . . I guess as long as it's _forever_, there will be enough time to work out the details."

He felt a sudden shift in the currents, a pins-and-needles grip on both sides of his face and a rather strange pressure on his lips, leaving them quite tingly after, and then a wave rose from below him, forcing him into the air so that he could roll around and land on the pier again beside Brock and Pikachu. He had trouble opening his eyes at first, perhaps afraid of what he'd see, but it became much easier to bear when he heard a vastly anticipated shout.

"Misty!" Brock bellowed, running towards her with Pikachu beside him the entire time.

"Pikachupi!"

And then he saw her, kneeling forward on her hands and knees and choking for air as if she'd nearly been suffocated. The idea caused Ash's own chest to tighten.

Still, she was fully-clothed and, other than some shortness of breath, seemed to be completely back to normal. _Everything _was back to normal. . .

Ash gulped back the new lump in his throat. Forget the fact that Misty may or may not have been some underwater being. . . But what had he just done? What had he inadvertantly promised his best friend just so that she wouldn't be forced to leave him forever?

It seemed that _normal _was the _last _thing his life would be from now on.

"Ash, are you alright? I didn't throw you _that _far into the air, did I?" Misty muttered, one pale hand gently placed on his shoulder. Other than sitting upright, he hadn't made any move or noise since reappearing on land.

He turned to blankly stare at it, unsure as to how he should react. Somehow, that hand there felt completely different than any other time it'd been there. His whole shoulder tingled as if it had fallen asleep. That was strange. He had thought that the sensation of Misty touching him underwater had been due to the lack of oxygen and her being a mythical creature. . . but there was no excuse suitable for him experiencing the same thing when they were both human again and back on land. What was more, it felt exactly the same as his lips had felt a few minutes ago. . . but what about this basic form of contact was suddenly so special?

What about _Misty _was so special?

"Ash?" Misty continued, beginning to shake him out of concern, "Brock-"

"-No, no, I'm fine, Myst. Sorry. Just winded." Ash finally had the will to respond, "I'm good now. . . I promise."

"Are you sure?" Brock coaxed, leaning forward as if to examine him, "You do look a little worse for wear, but I guess the situation can call for that kind of thing. What happened down there anyway? How'd you get Misty back onto the boardwalk?"

Ash blinked. So. . . So Brock hadn't heard any of that? Well, it sort of made sense. Even if Misty had been visible, they had still had the conversation _underwater_.

He pursed his lips together. They still tingled. Then he looked at Misty, noticing that her cheeks had blushed a flattering pink and that she'd grown suddenly interested in her own hands, now tangled within each other in her lap.

"Uh. . . nothing, Brock, we just reached an. . . an agreement."

He and Misty stared at each other for a second before looking away again. It took Brock clearing his throat and Pikachu nibbling his trainer's hand before they finally decided that they'd better get up and move on.

But having another chance to look at his best friend, the knowledge that he would be able to continue looking at her for awhile yet, caused a great wave of relief to wash over him. All of his fears and concerns, the worries and doubt that had consumed him over the past two or so days. . . It all washed away to nothing just because he knew he could look at and talk to her whenever he so pleased.

He hadn't realized until now how scared he'd been that he'd never be able to do those things anymore.

Later on in the Vermilion PokeCenter, after they had been given a couple of nice, hot mugs of tea and she a towel to dry her rust-colored hair, Misty saw Ash approach her from the front desk.

"Are Pikachu and the other Pokemon okay?" she asked wearily.

"Yeah, just a bit tired. They haven't had much rest or food since before Brock and I left Pewter. Which reminds me. . ."

He pulled his backpack up into his lap and unzipped the main compartment, rummaging through it until he'd apparently found what he wanted. Then he turned and held a handful of Pokeballs out to her.

"Brock and I got them from Cerulean's Nurse Joy," he explained to her as she stared blankly, or else in awe, "After I got your note, Brock and I were able to convince her that it was the best choice that we should take them with us. But I think _this _one is still better." And he forced her hands open so that he could hand her Pokemon back over to her. "I don't have Azuril though, so. . ."

"Uh. . . yeah," Misty nodded in response, "I decided if I couldn't keep her then I'd send her back to her real mom and Tracey."

"I know. Brock told me all about it after Tracey called him. Here, take this too."

Misty accepted the small card with her name and trainer identification on it and stared curiously.

"Thanks but, uh, what is it?"

"It's a temporary visa since you have more than six Pokemon. Nurse Joy wanted to give it to you but you'd already gone AWOL from the hotel in Cerulean. She gave it to me when I told her Brock and I were going to look for you. It's only for now though. Since you're a private resident, you can't carry more than six in your posession so tomorrow we'll all go to Pallet so you can fill out the paperwork needed for Professor Oak to house your other Pokemon at his preserve," he finished explaining in one gulp, as though he couldn't bear to waste anymore time on it.

"Plus my mom's been really worried about you so we should stop back home too."

"You mean your place?"

"I mean home."

Misty felt the flattery wash over her again. She'd already lost the one place she _could _call home. It was rather sweet of Ash, really, to immediately offer up another. She wasn't sure she trusted her voice enough to say so though.

It was quiet for a few minutes after that. Brock had gone grocery shopping because, according to Ash, taking care of ten siblings and traveling for years with half-a-dozen different youths had taught him how a nice, home-cooked meal could rejuvenate the soul. Misty couldn't agree more with that statement, especially after having lost her soul up until an hour or so ago. She had a feeling her friends hadn't eaten any more than their Pokemon had over the past couple days either.

"Is something else wrong, Ash?" she asked, despite feeling so weary and tired.

Ash jumped. True, he'd refused to leave her side ever since they'd come back from Vermilion Harbor, but he'd hoped she would just put it off as concern or fear that she might disappear again. Surely that was embarrassing enough? But now it seemed she knew better.

"N - not wrong, really. I was just curious, I guess." He said it as though he weren't curious at all though as though he really didn't care too much. Man, his acting skills had really improved!

"About. . . ?" Misty probed after waiting a minute for him to continue on his own. She actually had a few fears of her own eating away at her conscience and wondered if he was thinking the same thing. Being a truly outspoken and stubborn person, though, she overrode his silence and was first to speak.

"If this is about the way you agreed to turn me human, like if you thought I manipulated you by explaining how I helped you out in the water those few times, I just want you to know that I hadn't been thinking that way at all, okay?"

"Huh? No, Misty, that's not really. . ."

"I mean, jeezus, Ash Ketchum, if you think for one moment that I'm _really _that kind of person then I guess you never really knew me at all, did you?"

"I think I _did_, thanks, and I wasn't thinking about tha-"

"I only said it in the heat of the moment, on a whim, that kind of thing, I promise! But if you're still having doubts, I guess we can stop this now-"

"Look, it's not about that, okay?" he asked overtop her berating tone. It was enough to stun her to silence, though it didn't last nearly long enough for Ash's tastes.

"Then. . . what _is _it about?" she asked hesitantly when she'd next gathered enough courage to do so.

"Uh. . . the _details_? And. . ." he faltered long enough to breath inward before pursing his lips tightly again as he'd done earlier on the pier. He wanted to ask what she'd done to him underwater - what had caused that strange tingling sensation? - but thought that doing so straight forwardly would prove his stupidity. Besides, he was pretty sure already that it had been a. . .

"Well, there really isn't much to discuss, I guess. The contract has already been sealed anyway. Since I'm not the Cerulean Gym trainer anymore, it'll be pretty easy to follow through with it. Basically you just need to always _want _me with you."

"Th - that's it?" Ash croaked, flabberghasted. He'd thought the bylaws would be far stricter than that. "I mean, you don't have to, like, be glued to my hip or stalk me for the rest of my life or. . . ?"

"Nah, nothing like that. Don't worry, Ash; I have no intention of standing outside your bathroom and waiting for you to finish doing your business. That would be highly uncomfortable for the _both _of us, I think."

"A little bit, yeah."

"So, because of situations like that, the restrictions are pretty loose. It's alright for me to stay away, thank goodness. But let's say, god forbid, we got into a really big fight and you wanted me gone forever or wished me dead. I mean, you'd _really _have to feel that way from the bottom of your heart but doing that, feeling that, would definitely be enough to nullify the contract. Other than that, we're good."

"Oh, well, then I know you'll be okay." Ash responded without another thought, unable to help it. Misty blushed brightly, reading in between the lines.

_Like I'd ever feel so little for you._

"But I don't have to, like, sign on the dotted line or anything?"

"Nah, I used an alternative revenue stream."

And though Misty's tone was the epitome of cool and calm, Ash couldn't help noticing the way she averted her gaze as his own breath locked up in his throat. He knew. She knew. He thought he knew anyway, which gave him enough strength to properly ask the question.

"It, ah, wouldn't happen to have been a ki-," he started, clearly embarrassed, before she took the opportunity to interrupt him.

"Hey, you know, I didn't tell you before because it wasn't necessary or top priority or anything, and maybe I was a little worried about your answer because I thought it might be worse than _not _knowing, but," she took a moment to catch her breath, possibly also using it as an excuse to collect herself at the same time, "I think I should say it now before we get any deeper in this. . .

"I love you."

Ash just continued to sit there as if listening for her to further explain herself. Either that or maybe he was still digesting the information she'd just allowed him.

"Hey, did you hear me? I _said _I love you!" She waited another minute before her temper started to flare up.

"Hey, Ash!"

"I, uh. . . huh?" He blinked at her, looking quite bemused. Part of him knew too that those words were probably, definitely going to have to be said at some point, but he thought that maybe they should have been planned out better, maybe even that they should have come from _him _first.

Somehow, sitting in the PokeCenter lobby, still damp from their unfortunate swim, while one friend was out on business and all of the others were being examined by a doctor, right after discussing how the two of them would never be able to emotionally separate from one another ever again. . . It seemed to bend and nearly break the two opposing sides of the spectrum, from dull and normal to strange and eccentric.

And yet. . .

"I guess it's true what they say about the third time being the charm. . . I said I love you. And not like _we're-best-buddies-of-course-she-loves-me _or _best-friends-who-really-care-about-each-other-and-can't-be-replaced-by-anyone. . . _It's not _puppy love_ or _popstar love_. I mean it as in a boy and a girl, nearly a man and a woman, who have gone through almost everything together, who think of each other all the time, who enjoy nearly every waking moment they've experienced together, no matter how furious or nervous or dangerous. . . I'm talking about one thing that means more than nearly anything. That's. . ." A deep sigh after finally explaining it, ". . . That's what I mean. The kind you _have _to bear on your sleeve or else your heart will stop. The kind where there's simply nobody else."

_How is that so easy?_

"I. . ." Ash swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry again. He didn't think there would be anything Misty could say to him after what had happened earlier that day that would cause him to lose his breath more than once. "How did you know?"

_How is it defined?_

"Huh? How'd I know what?"

_How can you say it so fearlessly?_

"That it feels like that when I think of you? Nobody else, just you. How could you possibly know that? How could you dare to put a name to it? I just thought it was normal, for _us _anyway."

And indeed he had. Ash had considered the possibility that his bond with Misty was different than his bond with anyone else, even though it had always _felt _different only in small, insignificant ways that slowly managed to add up and up. It had all just been a part of _them_ and he'd spent so much time getting used to their dynamic that it was hard to see much further. In fact, the few times that he had tried, his psyche had immediately taken over and pushed it all away to a place within him that he barely knew existed.

Misty shrugged, not trusting her voice after his confession. Truthfully, she obviously _hadn't _known. If she _had _all that time ago that all of her fears and worries would have been abated had she only given a definition of _how _it felt, she would have done so forever ago!

"That means. . ." Ash started anew, gasping for breath. Any thoughtful or philisophical words of wisdom that Misty had thought might come to him at this crucial moment flew out the sliding double doors of the PokeCenter. "That means. . . that _was _a kiss earlier today!"

Misty blinked, mouth gaping slightly open. Oh no. . . It had really come to _this_?

"Uh, yeah. . . Yeah, Ash, it was."

Before he could respond, someone else butted in their conversation.

"What was what?"

Apparently Brock was back.

"Uh. . ." Ash and Misty fumbled in unison, turning to stare at one another, unsure of whether to confirm or deny anything.

"Did you just say something about a kiss, Ash?"

"N - no! Uh, maybe. . . I don't know?"

"Something happened when you guys were at the pier, didn't it?" the future breeder deadpanned, walking towards his two friends and depositing his bag of groceries in one of the seats beside them. Then he stepped back and crossed his arms, brow furrowed. Surprisingly, he rounded on Misty for more information.

"I knew something was up. It's not like it could have been simple for you to turn human again after you'd gone as far as accepting that you had no other choice but to return home. So what happened? Ash, I hope you didn't do something crazy!"

"Whoa, hold on! _She _was the one who kissed _me_! All I did was promise she could stay with me forever! And sure, it was sorta in the heat of the moment, but still. . . !"

"So she kissed you?"

"Yeah! And as a way of binding me to a verbal contract of all things!"

"C'mon Ash, it's not like I had a pen handy or anything! And I doubt you did either!" Misty leapt from her seat in agitation, throwing her arms open as if to envelope the entire room.

"Well," Brock intruded before Ash could respond to her sharp tone, "I never expected you to be bold enough to make the first move anyway, Ash. . ."

"And then she goes on like it doesn't matter, talking about details and. . . wait, what? I'm plenty bold!" the raven-haired trainer leapt up in arms too, daring either of his friends to doubt what he called his nerves of steel.

"Just be quiet, Mr. Pokemon Master! At least _I _admitted to what happened after! You should consider yourself lucky!"

Finally, Brock took a step back to further examine the situation. What he saw beyond the obvious signs of frustration and stubbornness that he'd grown so accustomed to seeing on his friends' faces during their rare moments of deep conversation or emotion were the awkward red patches on their cheeks caused by embarrassment and the half-smiles at the corners of their lips due to the familiarty of the argument, as well as the light in their eyes.

Dear goodness, they were _happy _to be fighting! And even moreso than that. . .

"Can I take his panic as a delayed response to you finally telling him how you feel?" the breeder-to-be asked.

"Yeah," Misty sighed, ruffling a hand through her mostly dry hair, "I guess so. . ."

"Lucky? How the heck am I lucky? You forced yourself on me, Misty! And now I'm stuck with you forever, no hope of escaping unless I break my vow to you which I could never do 'cause I'm such a good guy! Just 'cause I love you too doesn't mean that everything else has blown over!"

"Ash, okay, I admit that forever is a pretty long time; you probably should have given a more precise timeline. But you might maybe _still _be overreacting here. . ." Brock attempted to disarm him but neither he nor Misty were in the mood.

"So tell me again, Myst, just how am I lucky here?"

"_Because_, Mr. Pokemon Master, a few hundred years ago it wouldn't have just been a kiss! Instead, would you rather have been married on the spot and made to bear a child? 'Cause that's what would have happened way back when!"

Ash and Brock were both respectably silent as Misty huffed and puffed before allowing herself to calm down. The three of them continued to stare at one another, bathed in the quiet, as each of them tried to find the right words to respond to that statement with.

Finally, Ash came up with something.

"Shut up, Myst," he started with what seemed to have been a callous tone, ignoring her appalled expression, before he continued, "By the way, I love you too."

He had thought he would be the first one (maybe even the _only _one) to vocalize those words, that feeling. Back at the bay area, when he was sure he'd lose her, his mind had split into two separate entities. One had been stubborn, refusing to believe that any of this was real and repeating over and over that everything would somehow magically work out. The other part had burdened and pushed at that wall he'd built up when he was younger, intent on staying a kid forever. Or, well, as long as it would take him to pursue and succeed his dreams.

_He would not grow up for anything._

_He would not change._

"Oh? Do you really?" she asked him skeptically, hands on her hips and an eyebrow quirked. Though the pink patches on her cheeks gave her away.

He was fine as he'd always been, and if he lost focus, if he started seeing, being, _dreaming _differently, then he would maybe one day feel inclined to abandon the journey he'd started when he was ten years old, and that first half of him simply couldn't bear to do that. He had been sure that there would always be time for those _other _things, things that Brock and Misty and his mom and a few other people in his life had attempted to discuss with him before being blown off.

Brock had been the first of all of his friends to realize he'd started growing up, even if neither young man ever mentioned it aloud. Perhaps it was even the reason for him using Misty's disappearance as a way to bring up what dare not ever be spoken of.

_"Think for a second about why you're acting out so much just because of what happened to Misty."_

He'd wanted Ash to figure it out on his own, of course.

_"You don't even wonder why this is so important to you?"_

It was silly, really.

_"I get it, you're worried, you feel guilty, etc., but that's no excuse."_

Because how could he be tempted to figure out something he'd already known for awhile now?

When it came down to the wire, he knew it was worth saying anything, everything, doing whatever was needed. If there was no more time to be found or had then he'd have to make it on his own by whatever means necessary. And so Ash Ketchum finally decided to start growing up.

"Yeah. Really."

_The plunge._

All rationality was lost to him when Misty was involved, for better or worse. Thinking calmly had allowed him the opportunity to find out her place of hiding. . . but losing his temper had given him the strength needed to force her to stay. He had _finally_ found a gray area.

"Well, I should hope so, Mr. Pokemon Master! I mean, after all, at this point you're pretty much stuck with me anyway!" she replied with a mild scoff, wagging a finger in his direction though he only smiled cheekily at her in response.

_The water is a little chilly now. . ._

He grately appreciated the middle ground he'd found his way onto. After all, certain things were going to take some getting used to.

_. . . but in time it'll feel _just _right._

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes - **The end! I think. I kept getting told by the time I was knee-deep in chapter three that this would be awesome as a novel but I'm really not in the mood to change my plans and keep this project going any longer than it has been already. The point of this story, other than to give me the opportunity to work on my suspense genre skills and also to have my first chance at handling fantasy, was simply to bring Ash and Misty back together. And not _just _romantically, but also as friends. As a team. Because they had one of the greatest bonds of the anime. . . Plus I got to use the end of this chapter to explain away how Ash's maturity has _declined _as the series went on.

Or maybe I'm the only one who thinks that way. It's just that he seems a lot more two-demensional than he did during the first through third seasons! Lol. Well, I refuse to rant on it anymore. I'm just happy this is over and done with.

Darn, there was something else I know I wanted to say and I just can't remember what it was. . . Ugh, well, maybe one of you guys will point it out in your review and I can edit these notes after. . .

So, yeah, the end! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter, despite my lying to you about it being the last one. But maybe now you'll understand why I divided it in half. Whew, it was a long one! And I'm tired of giving away too much at once! Believe me, this was better for _everybody_. Lol.

Good day!


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